Affliction
by Mr. Wuggles
Summary: Sequel to Defect. After the triplet's birth, a stranger comes and disrupts the order of their world. Some people never grow up. Some people grow up all too fast. Chapter 20 is up! I intend to finish this story within the next few weeks so hang on!
1. Chapter 1

Sorry about the lack of updates; but I thought that this story needed a rewrite. It's was pretty terrible, and I know I can make it right. So, sorry if I'm pissing you off, or whatever, but I think that a good story that's never finished is better than a crappy one that no one will read, don't you think?

I was asleep on the couch the day he arrived; far away in my own little world, completely unaware of his existence. Then all of a sudden, I was awoken, and blinding light stung my eyes.

I recoiled, and rolled off the couch. "Why?!" I cried, shielding my eyes with one arm and blindly swinging at my agitator with the other.

"Hurry up and get dressed; Piccolo says we have a visitor." It was Lysander, my brother.

I was still too disoriented to understand what he was telling me. I kept stumbling around, as if I were drunk.

He followed me into our room, telling me all about the situation. I only heard bits and pieces; something about a space ship and the Look Out.

I pulled on some clothes, and stepped back out into the light. I realized that it was not as early as I thought it was; in fact, it was noon. I didn't give a damn.

I followed him outside, and he continued to talk. I was used to his jabbering, and he was used to my silence. That's why we got along so well. Yeah right.

"What kind of alien is it?" I asked, as we made our way over to the Look Out. The sun was in my eyes. My face was itchy because of the stubble that was trying to grow, and I was too afraid to shave it off, just in case it decided not to grow back. (And I didn't know how to shave.)

"Papa says that it's one of us," Lys said in an unnecessarily low voice.

"A Saiyan?" I asked.

He nodded. "But he's not sure. The guy won't say anything and supposedly, he's really pissed about something."

"Well, where's Da?" I asked.

Lys sighed. "Where else? Fighting with Bulma."

I nodded, but didn't really care. Nothing new in that department. We then passed a really funny looking tree, and, of course, had to stop and look at it.

"Holy fuck!" Lysander cried, poking at it with a stick. "Look at this thing!"

"Yeah, it's pretty weird." I agreed. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait, just one second." He took out his glasses from his pocket and put them on. "Shit! It looks like a dog licking its butt!"

I rolled my eyes. "It does not. Aren't we supposed to be going to look at the Alien?"

"Dude, it's a dog licking its ass!"

I sighed deeply and took off into the air. Moron.

He followed a full ten minutes later and arrived on the Look Out soon after I did.

"It totally did," He assured me. "Do you want to go back and look at it again?"

I growled and turned to face him. "It did not look like a dog licking its ass!" When I turned back around, everyone was staring at me.

Papa had this look of total confusion, while everyone else seemed uncomfortable.

"We… saw this tree…" I tried to explain, "And it looked like a dog. Licking its own ass."

"So you agree with me!" Lysander cried, pointing at me. "Do you guys want to see it? It's hilarious!"

Bra smacked her forehead. "Why are boys so dumb?"

"Okay, stay here, I'll go take a picture of it!" Lysander turned to take off again, but I grabbed his arm.

"No one wants to see your dog-licking-ass tree!" I growled to him.

He frowned, and seemed disappointed.

"So anyway," Papa said, as if we had not just interrupted his conversation with Piccolo, "Once Vegeta get's here, he should be able to figure out who he is and everything."

"Oh yeah!" Lys cried. "The alien!" he pranced over to the half-circle and spread his arms as if he wanted to huddle. "Can I see him? Does he bite?"

"Yes," Piccolo said with a grave expression on his face.

"Awesome." He ran off without another word.

I went after him. When I caught up to him, he was standing on a stool, peering over a random wall that made up part of a large box in the corner of the… I guess it would be a living room. Vienna was right next to him, doing the same, but her stool was taller.

I went over to see what they were looking at.

"He's a little…" Lysander began, "Not what I expected."

I pushed him off the stool a little so we each could place one foot on it to look over.

There was a man inside, but he was unlike any man I had ever seen in real life. He more closely resembled latex stretched over a skeleton than a living being. He was lying on his side, his back toward us; the entire curvature of his spine poking out. I followed the column of ribs until they met a protruding hip, and disappeared beneath a pair of spandex pants, that left little to the imagination. His knees were larger around than his thighs; which were grotesques in the way they seemed to lay so still; as if the lower half of his body were dead.

His chest was moving, but it made this sound; as if he kept marbles in his lungs at all times.

"I've been talking to him for a while now," Vienna said quietly, "He hasn't said anything. I think he might be deaf… or maybe a mute."

"Or maybe he just doesn't like you." I pointed out, and Lys nodded as if to say, 'That's plausible'.

Normally, she would have given me a dirty look and stopped talking to me for a while; but this time, she simply turned back to the man inside the little box he was in and sighed.

"I bet he's scared." She said, mostly to herself.

"I bet not." I said, "He's a man. Men don't get scared."

She didn't even roll her eyes. In fact, she didn't acknowledge me at all.

"Why aren't you arguing with me?" I asked.

"Because I'm trying this new thing. I'm just going to ignore you."

"But… making you angry is the highlight of my day," I protested, my voice cracking suddenly. I hate growing up. It's a pain in my ass.

"I thought seeing my shinning face in the morning is the highlight of your day." Lysander screwed his finger tips to his cheeks and tried to look adorable. It was terrifying.

"Have you ever wondered why I always scream whenever you wake me up?" I asked.

All of a sudden, the man turned over and sat up. He stared right up at us. "Do you three ever shut up?" He asked.

We all recoiled; not only because he spoke, and in such perfect English too; but his face was so gaunt and sickly pale; and his eyes were this deep, scarlet red; like blood.

He had an accent that was not too far off from Da's; except, he put an emphasis on his vowels, so everything sounded funny. It's the kind of accent you try not to giggle at.

He stared at us, and we stared back at him, unable to look away.

He crossed his arms, which were no bigger around than branches. "Are you two twins?" He asked, motioning at Lysander and I.

"No, we're not even related. You see, he," Lysander gestured toward me, "Was born a girl, and then when she saw me, she decided I was so undeniably gorgeous, that she wanted to look just like me. So she got all this surgery, and she _still _doesn't look a thing like me and I told her-"

I jabbed him in the ribs. "Shut up! I wasn't born a girl!" I turned towards the man in the box, "I wasn't born a girl,"

To my horror, the man was laughing. His bare, skeletal chest heaved with the effort. "You two are _great_. You should have your own show."

"We're actually triplets," Vienna cut in and smiled warmly. "I'm Vienna, and that's Aizel and Lysander."

He folded his fingers behind his head and lay back down. "It's a dangerous thing to tell someone you're name, you know. When someone knows your name, it means you trust them. Are you sure you can trust me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Can I?"

"You can do whatever the hell you want, love; as long as you can deal with the consequences."

She blushed, as if embarrassed. Girls are so weird.

A moment later, everyone else entered the room, Da at the front. He looked pissed; which wasn't out of the ordinary; but today, he looked as though he was ready to rip out someone's throat and eat it.

The man in the box lay back down, and pretended to be asleep; or maybe he was going for dead. I don't know which.

We dismounted from the stools as he began to tear down the protective walls. They were obviously made of something pretty strong, because when he tried, he had more difficulty than I thought he would.

He grabbed onto the man's arm, and pulled him to his feet. The man panicked and tried to pull his arm back. When that didn't work, he went dead weight.

Da sighed. "You're not going to make this easy are you?" He tugged at the man again. The man rolled and tried to bite him.

"Be careful, Vegeta, he's a lot stronger than he looks." Krillin warned.

Da snorted. He pulled the man back to his feet and twisted his arm until it touched the center of his back. He then kicked the man's legs out from under him. "Do you speak Saiyan?" He asked in the Common Speech.

The man gritted his teeth and nodded.

"He speaks English too." Vienna offered quietly, her eyes to the floor.

"English?" Da repeated, and then turned back to the skeletal man. "Where did you learn English?"

The man opened his mouth, like he was going to answer, and instead blew a raspberry.

Da glowered, and slammed him down to the floor. He pressed one knee to the man's back, pinning down his arm. "Do not provoke me, boy; do you know who I am?"

He let out a groan, and then the man replied with a laugh, "My worst nightmare?"

For a moment, I thought that my father was going to bash the man's head in until there was no telling what his face used to look like. I cringed, trying to brace myself. But to my surprised, he looked over at us, saw the terrified looks on our faces, and let him go. He even took a few steps back.

"Alright, I'm not going to kill him," he snapped at us, as if irritated that our expressions had not changed. "I need a drink."

"Me too," The man on the floor said, sitting up slightly.

Da growled at him, "You're not getting anything until you tell me who you are and why you're here."

The man glanced around. "I had a book bag; can I have it back?"

"No." Da replied shortly. "Who are you?"

"There's rum in it," The man offered, as if he were trying to bride a child with candy. "And from what I understand, you have a bit of a drinking problem."

Da snapped to attention. "What?"

"What?" The man repeated, looking bewildered.

"What did you say?"

"About what?"

"You said I have a drinking problem," Da said angrily. "I don't have a problem."

"So you say." The man continued to look around the room, as if calculating something. "Don't worry; I have a bit of a problem with the nose candy."

"How do you even know I have a drinking problem?"

I'd never actually seen my father drink anything in my life; not even a beer during a football game. But he talked about it a lot; almost obsessively, now that I think about it.

"I don't. It's all just speculation. Are you sure you don't want to give me my book bag? My wallet might be in there; then you might get some information." The man's scarlet eyes looked terrifying; sunken into his head; haunting.

Da seemed to think it over. "Fine. Let me see his bag."

Papa brought in a blue and green book bag that looked as though it had taken quite a beating. Da opened it and began pulling out several little bags of white powder.

"What's this?" Da asked, in a manner that suggested he already knew.

"Cocaine. My wallet's in the front pocket."

Da did not go for the front pocket, though, he continued to dig through the bag. There were nine bags of cocaine, a bottle of rum, a T-shirt, an empty water bottle, a book, a knife, and a shoe; which held more cocaine.

"You call this a bit of a problem?" Da asked sarcastically.

"You've only had too much when it's all gone, love." He said with a laugh.

I glanced over at Papa, to see if he reacted at all to his mate being called 'love' by another man. Neither of them seemed to notice, though.

Da retrieved the wallet, and looked inside. "There's nothing in it."

A moment later, Bra seemed to realize something. "Hey, can I see it?"

Da passed it to her.

She turned it over and over in her hands. "This looks like the wallet that mom's company is coming out with next year. It's made of the same stuff space suits are made of to endure any kind of condition." She opened it and flipped open a pocket. "It even has the tracker she was talking about the other day; so you can't loose it." She looked up, and then all eyes went to the man on the floor, who was humming the Jeopardy song.

"Let's put two and two together, shall we, love? And please, answer in the form of a question. How would I get a wallet that hasn't even been made yet? You have ten seconds,"

"You stole the blueprints," Bra said.

"Sorry, not only did you not answer in the form of a question, but your answer is wrong. Seven seconds left,"

"Until what?" Lys asked.

"Until the wallet explodes. Four seconds."

"Uh- What is you work for Capsule Corp?" Lysander said quickly.

"Out of time!" He made the sound of an explosion with his mouth, and then lay back on the floor, as if dead.

Papa and Da exchanged glances, a silent discussion forming between them.

"You're from the future." Papa finally said.


	2. Chapter 2

"You win!" The man sat back up as if nothing had happened.

"But why are you here?" Piccolo asked.

"The future was too boring for me." The man said with a shrug. He saw the look on our faces, and deducted that we did not believe him. His tone suddenly became serious. "Alright, fine. I screwed up, and I came back to fix it."

"What exactly did you do?" Papa asked.

The man sighed. "I did a lot of things."

Da jerked forward as if he was going to hit him. "Just give me a straight answer!"

"And I'll tell you!" The man continued, raising his voice, and shrinking back from Da's shirking range, "If you let me have my rum back."

Da shook his head. "Just say what you need to say and then I'll think about it."

"But I'm starting to sober up," The man protested, "And you wouldn't like me when I'm sober, trust me. I get pretty mean."

"I don't care. The faster you tell your story, the faster this can be over."

The man sighed deeply, and paused to think for a moment.

"Talk!" Da barked, and the man began immediately.

"Well, I came back in time to stop myself from ruining my life and everyone else's. I came back to figure out exactly when everything started going wrong so I can fix it."

"That's it?" Da asked, raising his eyebrows. "You took up all that time just to say that?"

"Well, there's more; but that part of the story is a little boring."

"I don't have anything better to do at the moment." Da said with a growl, getting up into the man's face.

"Fine then. I'm from thirteen years in the future. A while ago; which will be about a year in the future to you; I did something pretty bad. Because of it, I ruined all of your lives." He looked over to Papa, "So I got into drugs from the guilt, and became what you see today." He laughed suddenly, with a twang of bitterness to it. "I can't even function now."

"What exactly did you do?" Papa asked, hesitant to ask.

"I destroyed your lives." He said without skipping a beat. His expression was of the utmost seriousness as he spoke, his gaze unwavering. "I sent you back to your wife."

"What?!" Vienna cried, seeming perplexed.

This one thing is what I had feared most; that our parents would slip up, or fall in love with someone else. I think it is secretly every child's worst fear; every child who had not already faced the fear, anyway.

"The only reason you didn't go back to your wife, though," He was looking at Da this time, "Was because I killed you."

The color drained from me face. I take back what I said about the worst fear being that my parents split up. That was defiantly my worst fear.

Silence came about after that for a long while, until Da cleared his throat. "Why did you kill me?"

The man on the ground seemed to think about this. "There were a lot of reasons. I thought at first it was because I hated you… but now that I've had time to think it over, I realize it wasn't because I hated you."

"Then why?" Da demanded before the man could continue.

"Because I loved you." The man said without hesitation.

Da blinked several times. "You realize that doesn't make any sense."

"Oh I know; I knew _then_ that it didn't make any sense. A lot of things that happen don't make any sense. Why should they? Sense is relative."

"That doesn't make any sense either." Da replied.

"It doesn't have to. You name me one thing that does make sense, and I'll give you seven more paradoxes to solve."

They fell silent; both of them. They simply stared, Da with wonder, the man on the floor with determination.

"I can tell your smart," Da said all of a sudden, "Smarter than the average Saiyan, no doubt."

"I try."

"What I don't understand though; among other things; is how you even got here."

"I'm actually already here. But younger."

Everyone looked around, baffled.

"Where?" Papa asked.

"Capsule Corp, probably."

We all blinked. I couldn't think of anyone I knew that even resembled this guy.

A moment later he sighed and turned his attention back to Da.

"How's your wife?"

"She's not-"

"You're wife, yeah I know. You think getting married is a waste of an afternoon."

Da stood up and took a step back. "How do you know all this?"

"I know a lot of things." The man shrugged. "I know a lot about you, Vegeta. You and I spent a lot of time together, once upon a time."

"What does that mean?" Papa asked quietly.

The man did not answer this question. "You know what puzzles me, though? I wonder why things are so different. Where I came from, you three were not born." He nodded at us. "The triplets. Whose children are you?"

"Their's," Vienna said, motioning at Papa and Da.

"Their's…." The man repeated and then paused. "You see, that doesn't fit. Something's not right about this time line." He rubbed his chin. "Where is Trunks? Do you know him?"

"Yes, he's our brother." Vienna said. "Well, half-brother. You can talk to him yourself. He and Goten are on their way right now."

It was about five minutes later that they arrived.

"Mom told me about everyone being here. What's going on?" Trunks asked as he entered the room. His eyes fell upon the man, who was frowning deeply. "Who's he?"

"We don't know." Da said with a sigh.

"Who the hell are you?" The man on the floor asked. "You're Trunks?"

"Yeah," Trunks said, frowning.

"You can't be Trunks," The man said, shaking his head. "You're too old."

"Old? I'm 30,"

"Old!" The man insisted. "You're supposed to be, like, fourteen!"

"Well I _was_ fourteen; sixteen years ago."

For a long time, the man had a troubled look on his face. His began counting on his fingers and muttering to himself. "Hold fuck," He finally said, standing. "Shit! God damn it!" He began to throw some kind of tantrum.

"What?" Papa asked, eyebrows rising. "What's wrong?"

"What year is it?" The man asked.

"2037," Trunks replied.

"Fucking-" The man stopped suddenly to take a deep breath. "Something's wrong with that God damned machine! It didn't take me back far enough. This is a problem. God damn it!" He took his fist and put it half-way into his mouth, biting it with frustration. He crossed the other arm across his torso, and for a moment, he looked like someone who shouldn't be allowed outside a padded room.

Then he stopped, and seemed to come to a realization.

"But none of you know who I am," He said in an icy voice. "You've never seen me before in your lives."

"That's what we've been saying _all day_!" Da growled with exasperation.

"No, I know that; but if it's fourteen years after I meant to come, and you still don't know who I am; than that means that… I never came to earth." He let his arms drop and began to pace. For someone so skinny and frail looking, he was extremely active now. "What happened? I don't understand,"

"You do know… that whatever you do in this timeline, won't affect the one you're from, right? They are parallel Universes; you can't actually go back and change things from one timeline. You can only go to the ones next to it, in which the event you're trying to change hasn't happened yet." Papa explained slowly.

The man suddenly stopped his pacing and stared out at us. "You're sure?"

"We've dealt with Time travel before." Everyone in the room nodded.

"Then… You're wife; she never went to another planet? She never talked about finding a little boy?"

Da shook his head. "She didn't say anything about it to me…And she's not my wife."

"Yes, I know, I know. I know!" The man seemed angry now with frustration. He collapsed onto the floor. His knees came up to his chest and he wrapped his arms around them. His eyes were looking around wildly as he thought. Faintly, I could hear him rattling off numbers.

"1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23…" He kept going on and on, naming on random numbers for nearly twenty minutes. He did not move, and no one said anything.

He got up to 103, and then, finally, he seemed to clear his head enough to speak.

"Well, I guess I came here for nothing." He said in a hollow voice. He began gathering up all his belongings and his drugs.

"Well, you came back and tried to make everything right; that's what counts." Papa said.

"Yeah, a world of good that did." He took out a cigarette that was tucked inside the lining of the book he carried and lit up. "If you need me, I'll be on the biggest drug binge of my life."

"So you're just going to give up?" Vienna asked, seemed perplexed, "Just like that? You're not even going to try to do anything?"

"Like what? Save him from nothing? There's nothing to do; I don't have a reason to be alive, really."

"There are a lot of thing you could do," She offered. "You can stop using drugs, for one." This last part she said quietly, as if she thought he wouldn't hear.

"There are a lot of things I've tried to do. I'm just not up to challenges like I used to be." He turned to Da, "I promise I won't be of any more trouble. You leave me alone, and I'll just disappear. Deal?"

Da nodded. The man threw the T-shirt from his bag over his shoulder and turned back around to look at us all. He had a look of calculation on his face. Then, without another word, he turned to leave.

"Wait," I said all of a sudden, "What's your name?"

The man turned back around slightly, his back hunched, which exposed his spinal cord. "Can I trust you with my name?"

I glanced at my parents, but they did not respond. "Yes," I said after a moment.

He gave me a teasing laugh, but it was hollow too. "If I didn't have such a head ache, I might be willing to make a game out of it. It's Kagen. Don't forget it, love." He winked, and with that, was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

A week passed, and one would think everyone would forget about our run-in with the strange man from the future.

Yeah, right. It was all any of us could talk about. It was almost like his very existence had become a brand new puzzle that had to be solved; and everyone wanted to be the one to figure it out.

We had been told to stay away from Kagen by Papa; he said that he would feel better if we stayed away from him until they knew more about him.

We told them we would, but it was a lie.

Saturday once again came, and I found myself without anything to do. Vienna was at practice for the ice skating thing she was so found of, and Lysander was hanging out with Gohan; which they often did, to talk about nerd stuff. I was always welcome to come, but I always passed for something more exciting.

So I was alone. Da had told me to get lost, basically, so he and Papa could… well, let's just say they wanted me to go away for a while.

I went into town and got a Slurpy; which used up all the money I had managed to save in the past few weeks. We didn't get an allowance; Da insisted that if we wanted something, we had to either have the balls to steal it, or find a way to pay for it ourselves. Papa and Da didn't have jobs, so usually; there was no money to give anyway.

I walked around for a while, just looking and slurping, until I found myself in the slums. I turned around to leave, not interested in someone asking me for change or whatever, when I came across someone I recognized.

Kagen was sitting on the stairs before an abandoned restaurant. He was smoking, and staring off into space.

I went over to him. "Hey," I said cheerfully.

He looked up at me, putting a hand across his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun. "Hey, it's one of the triplets!" He said in a scratchy voice.

"Aizel," I replied.

"Yeah. Vegeta's son." He took a drag from his cigarette and then scooted over and motioned for me to sit down.

I set down my Slurpy near his feet and took up the space he offered. "How have you been?"

He snorted out something like a laugh. "Win some, loose some." He glanced over at me, and then held out the cigarette to me. "You smoke?"

I shook my head. "I'm trying to quit."

He laughed, "You're a funny kid, you know?"

"Thanks,"

"Yeah. It's good to be funny; good to be a wise guy." He paused for a while. "I'm thinking I might sober up," He said all of a sudden. "Get a job, maybe."

I nodded, though I wondered why he would need a job.

"Why a job?" I asked hesitantly.

He shrugged. "Maybe a job would give me some kind of goal in life." He paused and leaned in closer to me. "And I'm almost out of blow."

"So you're going to sober up, so you can get a job, so you can buy more blow?" I asked. "Well, that sounds like a brilliant plan."

He scratched at his chin, which had begun to grow patchy stubble. "I see your point. That doesn't make too much sense, does it?"

"It doesn't make any sense."

"But why does it have to?" He asked. I had known he was going to say that. Somewhere in his twisted logic, I think I got through to him, though, for he stood up.

"Here," He emptied his pockets, which had three more packets of cocaine and an empty carton of cigarettes in them. He held it all out to me. "I don't need them any more. I'm going to check myself into rehab right now."

I stared at him, and wondered how wise it was to take the drugs from him. I would be helping him, but then again, I'd be carrying about twenty grams of cocaine in my pockets.

He turned to leave, but then turned back around. "One more, and then I go cold turkey." He took one of the little bags from me and poured the contents onto the back of his hand. He snorted it all in one breath.

He leaned back in ecstasy, his eyes falling shut. Then he started sniffling, and rubbing at his nose. When he opened his eyes again, they were wild and bloodshot. "Okay, I'm ready."

He didn't move.

"I'm going to go get clean."

I nodded, but he still didn't move.

"Then I'll get a job,"

"Go!" I cried, and he jumped.

He took a step, and then sat back down on the steps. "No use in wasting all this blow, though," He said, taking the remaining bags from me. "I'll go right after I finish these off."

I rolled my eyes and propped my head onto my hand. He truly was an addict. I bet if he didn't have access to drugs for a week, he would loose his mind.

I knew about drugs from school. I knew all about marijuana, and heroine, and meth, but I didn't know all that much about cocaine. Heroine and meth were the big ones that actually killed people, while marijuana was the most common. That was probably why they spent so much time one those.

I did know that cocaine was dangerous stuff to mess around with, though. I knew it was really addictive too.

I glanced over at him.

He was jumpy now; he kept blinking rapidly, and he could barely control the spasms of his muscles.

"How old are you, kid?" He asked and rubbed at his nose again.

"Fourteen." I responded.

"Ever done any drugs?"

"No,"

"Ever had sex?"

"No,"

He scoffed. "I bet you got yourself a nice little girlfriend, don't cha?"

"No," I laughed good-naturedly. "No, not right now." I had never actually had a girlfriend before.

He turned to me, eyebrows raised. He was doing that thing that I sometimes saw people do, where they jiggled their legs up and down.

"Well, my advice to you is to go out and get a girl, and get her pregnant as fast as you can."

I frowned with confusion. "Why?"

"Because kids are great. Kids are the best thing that can happen to you. If you go out and have a bunch of kids, you'll be alright."

"Do you have any kids?"

He shook his head. "I was almost married though. The day of the wedding, she found out I still had a drug problem. She never showed up at the church."

"That's too bad," I said sympathetically.

"Yeah," He agreed. "It just wasn't meant to be, I guess. My only regret is that I never got to sleep with her. She was one of those religious types that were all about the 'save yourself for marriage' crap." He flicked the remaining butt of his cigarette onto the ground and lit up another one. He lit the match by striking it on the back of his front teeth.

"Ever been kissed?"

I was feeling more and more uncomfortable the more questions he asked me. "No, I haven't."

"That's a damn shame." He remarked. "One day, I might be nice enough to get you a whore."

I laughed nervously. "That's okay,"

"What's the matter? Don't like girls?" I was about to answer, but he cut me off. "Maybe you have a thing for guys. Nothing wrong with that,"

I had honestly never given the subject much thought. I found myself smitten over both sexes occasionally, and more than once, putting guys before girls on my list of people I would date. But I never sat down and said, "I'm gay" or "I like girls". I had never thought it necessary.

"So you've honestly never been kissed?" He asked, finishing off the second cigarette and casting this one aside as well.

I shook my head.

He told me to stand up, and I did. He turned me around twice, and then cocked an eyebrow. "You're quite a looker," He declared, "I'm surprised girls aren't all over you."

I didn't know what to say to this, so I sat back down, my face going hot.

"I myself," He went on, "Don't care much about gender. As long as they got a nice ass, I'm happy."

I had to keep myself from blushing. I cleared my throat, a thing I did when I was uncomfortable.

"I need a drink," He said, "Want to tag along?"

I shrugged and followed him to a convince store. I was glad he was done talking about kissing and sex, and that we were getting out of the cold.

He bought something I'd never heard of before and we went back to the abandoned restaurant. He took me around to the back and kicked the door down. Inside was much warmer than outside, for the wind could not as easily get in. It was still cold though, and before long, my teeth were chattering.

He sat down on the floor and opened the bottle with his teeth. He tipped back his head and took several long swigs. "Ah! Warms ya up!" He held the bottle out to me.

I took it without a word and stared into it. I had been told in school not to drink, and Papa would have told me the same thing. But Da had this philosophy that it was important that children make their own mistakes. And it wasn't very much. I probably wouldn't even get drunk.

I took a very small sip, and then handed it back to him. It was really sour and gross; it tasted like peroxide.

But he seemed to enjoy it, for he downed half of it in his next swig. He lay back, basking in the intensity of his high. "I'm not an alcoholic," He suddenly said, "But I could sure become one."

I sat down on the floor and stared at him. His eyes were closed, and his hands were behind his head.

He lay there for a long time, until I thought he'd fallen asleep.

I looked over to the bottle and took one more small sip. It didn't taste as bad the second time. I took a third, and began to feel my face grow hot. Before I knew it, the bottle was almost empty.

I was no longer cold, and my head was swimming. Everything was just fantastic. And funny. Kagen opened his eyes, and I started to laugh for no reason.

He sat up and stared at me, a confused smile on his face. "You okay?" He asked.

I got up on my knees and nearly pitched forward. He caught my shoulders and got me to sit back down. "Yeah," I replied. "I'm gr-r-r-eat!" I mimicked the tiger from the cereal box, and started laughing once more.

Kagen was grinning broadly as I made a fool of myself for nearly half an hour. I got up, and I danced, and I sang, badly, and I jumped around. Then, finally, I threw up all over the floor.

Kagen was laughing hysterically. "Can't hold your liquor, huh?"

I came back and sat down again, exhausted. I felt sick, and I felt the initial 'buzz' starting to leave me.

"Here," Kagen said, and handed me the bottle. "Take a few more sips. Just little ones; you just want to settle your stomach."

It didn't occur to me not to listen to him, so I finished off the rest of the bottle. I did feel a little better after that, and my mouth no longer tasted like vomit.

"First drink?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I figured it was," He was still smiling. He had me open my mouth, and then he riffled my hair. "You're alright."

For a long while, I was quiet. He began to slip back into unconsciousness, so I started talking so he would keep me company.

"Is it really bad that I've never been kissed?"

His eyes opened his again slowly, and his head jerked. He looked over at me and seemed to consider this. "No, not really."

"When did you have your first kiss?"

His eyes fell closed again. "Nine." He said after a moment.

"Who was it?"

"I don't remember his name."

"It was a guy?" I asked casually.

"Yeah. He was a lot older than I was. Probably around your Da's age." He sighed. "He was my first lover."

"You had a lover when you were nine?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "And he was that old?"

He laughed slightly at me. "I told him I was sixteen."

"And he believed you?" I was in shock by then; completely dumbfounded.

"I think he wanted to believe me," He said, "And he never asked me again." He opened one eye, and then the other. "Get over it. It's not like it was rape or anything."

I continued to stare at him.

He sat up, his expression growing hostile. "And it wasn't love either, so don't be so worried about it… And it happened a long time ago." He crossed his arms. He scratched at his chest, his high diminishing with each passing second.

"If… it wasn't love, then why were you his lover?" I asked timidly.

His expression softened somewhat. "He fed me. Gave me a place to stay. As long as I slept with him whenever he wanted, he'd give me whatever I needed to stay alive."

"Where were your parents?"

"I don't know," He said with a shrug. "I know my mother was dead. I don't know where my father was though. He was too busy to deal with me, though."

"That's pretty shitty," I replied.

His eyebrows rose. "Where are your parents?"

I was about to reply, but he cut in.

"Too busy to deal with you."

He had me there, but it wasn't the same thing. My parents would never let me spend time with an older man while they were… off doing something else.

This revelation troubled me greatly. He and I were not so different.

I looked back up at him, at a lost for words. I must have looked pretty pitiful, or helpless, for his expression of hostility melted completely.

He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry about it. Your parents wouldn't screw you over like mine did."

I could feel the bone beneath his clothes, and they poked me whenever either of us moved.

"Kagen," I said after a moment.

"Call me Kage," he replied. "I like Kage better."

I nodded against his chest. "Will you kiss me?"

He paused, and released me.

I thought for one terrifying moment, he was going to leave. He seemed to think it over, and then he nodded. "I'll kiss you, if you do something for me in return."

"Okay," I said, my voice trembling.

He sat up straighter, and came very close to my face. I didn't move, and allowed him to plant one, feather light kiss on my lips. All the blood rushed to my face and groin, and my stomach was suddenly alive with butterflies.

He pulled away, and I almost begged him for more. I drifted into a state of lethargic bliss while he snorted one more bag of cocaine.

"Now you're in my debt, and you gotta do something for me,"

I gulped at this. He might want me to do something really bad. My mind began to race as I thought about what he might have me do.

He began that all-to familiar rubbing of his nose and sniffling.

"And one day-" He stopped all of a sudden. His face became pale. His eyes widened. "And one day-" he began to blink rapidly like before. He started coughing, and then shaking. He spat some blood onto the ground, and then wiped his mouth, staring at it.

"And I think I need to use up that favor now, kid," Then he fell to the floor in a fit of convulsions.


	4. Chapter 4

It took me a moment to realize what had happened. On moment he was fine; he was talking and walking; then the next, he was on the ground.

He suddenly stopped his convulsions, and lay so still, I had the overwhelming feeling that he might be dead.

I got to my knees and checked his pulse. It was still there; he obviously was not dead; but it was rapid and out of control.

I put one of his arms around my shoulders and hoisted him up. He was completely unresponsive. His head lolled back, his mouth open. There was still blood dripping from it.

I took him out the door and took to the sky.

I wasn't sure what I should do; he was getting cold and shivering, and he wasn't breathing well.

I readjusted him, and flew around for a while, thinking about what would be best thing to do.

I couldn't take him to a hospital; they wouldn't know what to do with him. I defiantly couldn't take him home, either.

Then I saw Capsule Corp. Perfect.

I quickly swooped down and pounded on the balcony window. Bulma was sitting on the couch, reading the news paper. She looked up, and stared at me for a split second.

"Help me," I cried, my voice strangled with panic. She immediately got to her feet.

She opened the door and I took Kage in and lay him on the couch.

"What happened?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

"I don't know," I replied, "He was taking drugs; then all of a sudden he just passed out."

She checked his pulse. "How long's he been out?"

"About five or ten minutes," I replied. His lips were turning blue and the convulsions were coming back.

"His brain's deprived of oxygen." She said to herself. "Carry him down to the lab, Lysander."

I didn't bother to correct her as I lifted him back up and followed her down to the lab.

Downstairs, she had me put him onto a stretcher. She washed her hands and then put on some gloves and a white coat.

A few moments later, Bra joined her, already suited up.

"Mom, this was the guy I told you about," She said.

Bulma nodded. "He's stopped breathing," She declared. "Get a bag on him."

Bra slipped a mask over his face which rhythmically forced air into his mouth.

Bulma hooked him up to a machine that monitored his heart. A moment after she got it set up, it started beeping frantically.

"Heart rate is dropping." She stated. "He's not taking the air." She removed the mask from his face. She tried to stick a tube down his throat, but she couldn't get his mouth to open.

"Jaw's locked up…" She muttered.

"Do you want me to try?" I asked vaguely, my eyes wide.

"No, I don't want to break his jaw." Instead, she took a scalpel from the drawer and cut a small slit into his throat. I grimace at the sucking sound it made as she forced it down into the freshly cut hole. She then screwed another tube onto the one in his neck, and a machine started to breathe for him as she wiped off all the blood.

His heart rate came back a second later.

"Still weak," She muttered. "Take a blood sample."

Bra nodded and pulled out a needle from a drawer. If Vienna were here, she would have freaked at the sight of it.

Bulma looked over at me. "I think we can handle it. You'd better just go home, okay?"

I nodded, and reluctantly left the basement for upstairs. I went home slowly. I was pretty shaken, and I was worried, but for the most part, I could keep myself under control.

When I got home, to my surprise, Da was cooking something. He was standing in the kitchen, shirtless and barefoot, and seemed to be throwing random things into a skillet.

He saw me, and nodded his head. I nodded back. It appeared as though I was home free.

The following morning, I went down for breakfast and found everyone and their mother sitting in our tiny kitchen.

They all turned to me, and I instinctually took a step back.

"Is this an intervention?" I asked, eyebrows rising.

Lysander laughed, but everyone else looked confused or solemn.

Da was staring at me, so I took a seat quietly.

Everyone was there; all my brothers, Bra, Bulma, Pan, as well as Piccolo, and Krillin.

Da was saying something, but my attention was elsewhere. I wanted to ask Bra if Kage was alright, but it wasn't safe to ask her here. I had been specifically told to stay away from him.

"Aizel, are you listening?"

I turned my head at my name. "Yes, sir,"

"I was saying that Rut Season will be around once again. The only thing that can be done is to prepare, understood? Kakorot and I have decided the best thing to do is to separate everyone."

"You mean like… Lysander and I stay away from the girls?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head. "Did I say separate? I meant isolate. There will be no contact between any of you; no phones, no letters, no e-mail crap, and absolutely no face-face interaction."

This was distressing. "For how long?" Lysander asked.

He seemed to think about it. "About three weeks should be enough."

"Three weeks?!" Lysander and I cried at the same time. We had never been away from each other for more than a weekend, and even that made us uneasy. We all started talking at the same time, trying to argue with each other as well as the adults.

"Hey," Da began, his eyes narrowing. We continued until he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. I saw Piccolo grimace out of the corner of my eye.

"That is the only solution to this. There is nothing else that can be done."

Vienna, Lysander and I exchanged glances, and then looked away from each other. They were right, after all; there was nothing that could be done that would make this any better, other than separation.

"I know you don't like it," Papa said gently, "But I promise, it won't be that terrible."

He didn't even know what he was saying. He didn't know the special bond we shared; especially between Lysander and I. One simply could not be without the other.

"Alright, say your good byes." Da said flatly.

"Now?" I asked.

"Yes, now." He replied. "The quicker the better."

"But where are we going?" Vienna asked.

"You girls will be going up to the mountains with Chi-chi." Papa replied. "We think that that's the safest place, since you won't be really affected anyway."

When girls went through Rut Season, they just smelled different; from what Da told me. They go into heat, and males find them irresistible. There would be no harm in putting them together.

"Lysander, you'll be going up to the look out with Piccolo. Aizel, you'll go to Master Roshi's island."

My nostrils flared, but I said nothing. I hated every aspect of this arraignment.

"Why are they freaking out about this?" Lysander asked in our secret 'multiple language'. It was something we came up with when we were very little. Apparently, it was common amongst human twins and triplets as well.

"I don't know," I replied back. "But they're really pissing me off."

"They should just chillax." He said with a nod.

"But it makes sense," Vienna cut in. "They don't want anything 'incestual' to happen."

I snorted. "You really think that that's going to happen? You're our sister; you're like the epitome of gross to us."

"Thanks," She said dryly. "But I don't want to take any chances. Though, I would have liked to stay somewhere else."

I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. "You have to stay with the Mountain Witch!"

Lysander and I both began to taunt her, chanting 'Mountain Witch' over and over in our secret language.

"Hey, stop teasing her," Da cut in. "I don't know what you're saying, but I know what you're doing. Sit down and shut up, both of you."

"What were you talking about?" Goten asked, looking confused.

"Chocolate," I said.

"Puppies," Vienna said at the same time.

"Race cars!" Lysander said the loudest, in unison with us both.

We looked at each other, and said at the same time, "Chocolate covered puppy cars!" Then we started laughing.

Everyone else looked uncomfortable.

"What's wrong with you three? Is there a gas leak in your room?" Trunks asked, eyebrows raised.

"You're just jealous because there isn't a gas leak in _you're_ room." Vienna said, and we nodded in agreement.

"That's enough," Da growled. "You're stalling. Say good bye, pack your things, and _get out_."

"Who's going to take care of Turtle?" Lysander asked, looking worried. "Are you going to feed him, and everything?"

Turtle was our turtle that we'd had since we were really little; like five, or so. We'd found him outside, and were allowed to keep him. He was pretty old, for a turtle, and he had grayish cataracts over both eyes, so he couldn't see all that well. And when the seasons changed his nose ran. He was pretty pathetic if you ask me.

"Absolutely not." Da replied with a shake of his head.

"But!" He cried, "He needs an eighth of a teaspoon of vitamins K, C, A, and D every morning! And he needs to go outside at least twenty minutes once a day at around seven' o'clock, and he needs a bath every two days, and his tank needs to be clean out every week or he get's cranky! And you have to give him lots of attention so he doesn't miss me."

"The damn thing's blind; how's it even going to know you're gone?" Da asked, putting his hands behind him and leaning back on the counter.

"Why don't you take him?" Papa suggested, ignoring him. "We're not going to remember all that stuff, you know."

Lysander turned to Piccolo. "Can I bright Turtle up to the look out? He's _really_ old, and if he dies while I'm gone, I'll probably spiral into madness within days."

"Fine, take the turtle, I don't care." Piccolo said, and crossed his arms.

"Awesome." He ran off to our room to get Turtle's tank.

"Hey, how come Bra's not staying at Capsule Corp.?" Vienna asked, scratching the back of her head. "How come she's coming with us to Chi-chi's?"

"Because," Da said, "There's a pest problem there."

"Pest?" Vienna asked with a frown. "Like, mice?"

"Like drug addicts." He replied.

"Kagen's staying in our basement." Bra explained casually. "He went into a coma after Aizel brought him over, and he hasn't woken up yet."

All eyes turned to me. Fucking big mouth. She just couldn't control herself.

"Did he?" Da asked, a frown beginning at his forehead and coming all the way down to his mouth.

"Okay, this is what happened," I said, putting up my hands, "I was with him for like ten minutes," A lie, "And then he was drinking, and then he passed out. So I took him over to Capsule Corp. That's all. I wasn't doing drugs, or anything, so don't even worry about it."

"But my mom said that his toxicity-screen was through the roof! He had practically every drug known to man in his system, and it said that he'd taken cocaine about five minutes before he came to our house. So that would mean-"

"That would mean he was doing drugs while you were there." Da concluded, his eyes narrowing.

I was _so_ dead. I was to a point where it didn't matter how well I could lie. There was no way I could keep the truth from getting out now, so I told the story again, and only tailored it… a bit.

"Okay, the truth is, that I ran into him down town. He started talking about stuff, but I didn't know what he was talking about, so I just nodded and agreed with him. Then he offered me a cigarette. I said no, and he kept talking. Then he bought some alcohol, and I tried some."

I saw the Papa sit up straighter, and his mouth opened as if he was going to say something.

"But I learned my lesson," I insisted quickly, "Because it was nasty and made me throw up. So then I was sick, and he did a little cocaine. Then he passed out and started freaking out, so I took him to Capsule Corp. That's the whole story, I swear."

By the time I had finished, it was dead quiet. At some point, Lysander had come back with Turtle's tank, and his mouth hung open.

"And this… all happened within ten minutes?" Papa asked, eyes narrowed to almost the same size as Da's.

"No," I admitted. "It was more like… twenty… or thirty... or an hour. I don't know."

Da ran a hand through his hair. "Aizel, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen now. You're going to become an example for everyone in this room, so that they know what happens when you disobey me. You'll probably cry, but try to take it like a man."

I took an involuntary step back, and then looked over at Trunks. He stared at me with glassy eyes, and then shook his head, as if to say 'Now you're going to get it.'

Ten minutes later, he had filled the sink with water, and was putting ice into it. He beckoned me over, and I came hesitantly, wary of what he was going to do.

"I already knew that you'd taken the junkie to the woman, but I hadn't known about the alcohol." Da said to me, his eyes never leaving mine. "You should learn how to lie, boy." He nodded his head at the sink. "Stick your hand into the water." He instructed.

Tentatively, I put my hand into it. It wasn't that cold yet.

"Not too terrible, huh?" he asked, crossing his arms, "A little cold, but not too bad, right?"

I didn't know what the right answer was, so I looked back over at Trunks, who seemed to be trying to tell me something.

"Don't look at him," Da said sharply, "You're attention should be over here."

Without warning, and with lightening speed, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my head under the water. I panicked, and tried to pull away. I grabbed onto his hand with both of my own, and tried to pry them off.

I sensed movement around me, but I couldn't focus on anything other than trying to get my head up and get some air into my lungs.

He held me under for nearly a minute, and then pulled me back out. I was panting, coughing, and disoriented.

"Vegeta!" Papa was yelling, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm teaching," He announced. He was looking over at Papa, so I didn't expect him to dunk my head back under.

This time, he held me under longer, until I felt like perhaps he was not going to let me back out; that he was going to let me drown.

When he did let me back up, the water was freezing, and stung at my face. He still had a fist full of my hair, and no matter what Papa was saying to him, he wouldn't let me go.

"He's a child," Papa was saying. He had Da's free wrist in his hand, and he looked angry. "Not some kind of prisoner."

"A child that needs to be taught a lesson." Da responded, ripping his arm away. "I'm not going to kill him, Kakorot. Trust me; I've done this a hundred times. And besides, they don't do this to prisoners."

Back into the water I went. This was the longest session yet. Despite what he had said, I was sure that this time, he would just let me drown. My vision began to tunnel, and I felt as though at any moment, my brain would tell my lungs to breathe, against all its logic, and I would die, right there in the kitchen.

When he pulled me out, I took several desperate breaths.

"Okay, okay! No more! No more," I choked out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry; I won't do it again, ever!"

He let me go, and I crashed to the floor. I had never been so terrified in my life. I was trembling from the shock of it all. I sat there, sobbing and choking for nearly ten minutes.

Papa and Da were arguing, one in Saiyan, one in English, about child abuse, or something like that. Da was insisting that I was perfectly fine, but Papa was saying that I might have brain damage or something.

I was too disoriented to figure out what else was going on, though.

I turned to Gohan, who was staring at me, completely immobile. He seemed to be in shock, as was everyone else.

He jerked, and then knelt beside me. "Are you alright? Can you see? What's your name?"

I didn't answer to this. I was too dazed to even register what he was saying. "I think I'm okay." I said after a moment.

"See?" Da said, crossing his arms. "He's alive, and he's perfectly fine."

Gohan rounded on him. "How could you do that to him?!"

Da shrugged. "It's not hard. Straightened him right out. I just saved us all some time."

I had a string of things I wanted to say to him, but at the moment, I was exhausted and didn't care much.

"How would you like it if someone tried to drown you?" Gohan asked.

"It's been done. And if I were really trying to drown him, he would be dead already because that isn't how you survive a staged drowning."

I glanced over to him, and then let my eyes roll shut.

A moment later, I was being jarred awake by Krillin.

"Come on, kid, let's go. I'll take you to the hospital if you want."

I got up and shook my head. "I'm fine." I didn't know how true that was, but I didn't want my father to think I was weak by going to the hospital. If he knew I was this badly affected by his little torture session, he would know that he could use it whenever I acted a fool.

I put all my clothes into a garbage bag and followed Krillin out the door.

Papa and Da were still arguing, but both in Saiyan this time so that no one else knew what they were saying. I did though. They were no longer talking about whether or not it was right to drown me, but what they were going to do about Kage. They said it might be a good idea to send him back to where he came from.

"You can't do that," I cried, involuntarily, and then covered my mouth. I had a nasty habit of just saying what I was thinking.

"This conversation does not concern you." Da said flatly, and then waved his hand as if dismissing me.

I stood outside with Krillin for a few moments before we took off. "He's such an ass," I spat, and ran my fingers through my wet hair. Winter was coming up, and I was suddenly very aware of it.

"I hear ya, kid. But he used to be a lot worse, you know? Before you were born, I couldn't stand him. Now, he's not that bad a guy."

We took off and flew in silence for a while.

"Does he… drown you… often?" He asked.

I shook my head. "This was the first time I really screwed up. He must be pretty pissed. And Papa must be too, since he didn't really stop him."

Krillin nodded, a frown setting into his face. "Just don't screw up again for a while. They'll get over it eventually,"

"How do you know?" I asked, looking away from him.

"Because I'm a parent. And they love you; they can forgive you for anything you do."

This gave me something to think about. I felt awful, like I had betrayed a level of trust that I could never get back. I hoped Krillin was right; I hoped they did love me enough to forgive me.


	5. Chapter 5

Master Roshi greeted me like any old man does; with a hand-shake, a wide, toothless grin, and some candy. I didn't know him very well; apparently, he was the closest thing to a father that Papa had. So in a way, he was like a grandpa to me.

I'd never had a grandparent before, so it was kind of fun to think of him as such.

Krillin didn't mention the issues from that morning, so I was grateful for that. They fed me some pretty good food, and left me alone for the rest of the morning.

I liked that they were not like Gohan's wife, Videl, or Bulma; they didn't want to know how life was, how I was doing in school, they didn't gawk at how tall I was. They just left me alone. I suppose I got a better deal than I expected.

I had all day to think about this morning. That was the only drag. There was nothing to distract me. Da was the kind of man to hold grudges for a while. And if I couldn't go talk to him, how was I supposed to prove that I was truly sorry for disobeying?

But then I thought, why should I be sorry? I saved Kage's life. If I hadn't been, there, he would have probably died.

I shivered at the thought.

I would never take drugs. They were too scary. I saw how miserable he was. How thin, and gangly he was, and how all he could think about were drugs.

I could see his face clearly in my mind. His gaunt, hollow cheeks; his slightly crooked nose; his angular jaw; his one ear that stuck our further than the other; his deep, scarlet eyes; his soft, pink lips.

I let myself fall onto the sand of the beach.

I would do anything for another kiss. It had been so… I don't even know how to describe it. It was something that was not only right, but perfect. It was like I had been living inside a shell of myself for a lifetime, and with that one kiss, I was free. I knew who I was, and why I was alive; all because of that kiss.

I lay spread eagle in the sand for almost an hour, just thinking.

The air suddenly smelled of rain. I could taste electricity around me before lighting struck. I stood, and went inside. For the first time in my life, I was so lonely it hurt.

For the next few days, I stayed up in the guest room, and slipped into some kind of a depression. I felt like if someone were to say anything to me, I would just burst into tears, like a girl. Everything was painful to think about, and I couldn't force myself to think of nothing.

Krillin came up to tell me dinner was ready, and I had to stop myself from purged my emotions on him right there.

I came downstairs to eat slowly. Android 18 and Maron had gone to stay in a hotel downtown. Apparently, Krillin had been worried about what would happen to them when I went into Rut Season. He didn't seem to understand that when I did go into Rut Season, I would have no interest in humans. And even if I did, I would not play favorites with genders, so he wouldn't have been any safer than they would have been.

"What's wrong, bud?" Krillin asked as he ate.

"I don't know," I said truthfully. "I guess I just miss home."

I wished Lysander were here, so that I wouldn't be so miserable. I just needed to talk to someone who understood me.

"I know. But three weeks will pass like that, so don't you even worry."

I didn't say anything after that.

Days passed, and I came to a point where I was desperate to talk to someone. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was so upset all the time, and I couldn't control all the thoughts and worries I had about everything.

I became extremely self-conscious, and obsessed with my appearance. I started skipping meals in order to loose weight. I didn't want to come out of my room for any reason other than to go to the bathroom; and I didn't even like that, because I would look in the mirror and think about how hideous I was.

It was like a shock of teenage insecurities that usually take a few years to develop coming up within days.

Eventually, I snapped. I broke down into emotional sobbing when I was called down for dinner, unable to stop myself. The sobbing was so violent; I couldn't even answer Kirllin and Master Roshi's questions about what was wrong with me.

"I don't know," I finally managed to spit out. "I can't- I don't-"

They couldn't get anything more out of me, so Krillin called my parents. He talked to someone for a few moments, explaining what happened, and that he didn't know what to do.

After a few minutes, he handed me the phone.

Da was on the other line.

"Aizel, you're perfectly fine. This is just you're first Rut Season. Your body is overloaded with hormones, and they're making you unable to control your emotions."

I wondered what he was talking about. This had to be something bigger than hormones. I had to have some kind of physiological disorder or something. "No, Da," I insisted. "Something's _wrong_ with me. I- everything is all messed up. I can't think straight." I paused to let my voice drop. "I think I might be dying," My voice cracked. I had been thinking that for a few days, but had not had the courage to say it out loud.

He cleared his throat over the phone casually. "You're not dying. You're perfectly fine. Tell me this; are you taller?"

I paused to think about this. I moved over toward the counter. A week ago, it had reached my hip; now it was at mid-thigh, nearly four inches shorter it seemed. "Yes," I replied.

"See? This is just puberty in overdrive. I'm going to bed, so is there anything else you want?"

"You're not going to help me?" I asked, and my voice sounded pitiful even to me.

"Help you how? Kakorot and I went through the same thing, and so did all your brothers. You have to deal with this in your own way."

"Well, can I come over and spend some time with you guys for a while?" I asked.

"You know the rule. We're not even supposed to be talking right now."

"Please, Da," I begged him, almost choking on a sob. "I can't do this all by myself. I feel like I'm loosing my mind."

"Aizel, trust me; you might think that everything is going awry, but you're the only one that's different. In a few days, it will pass, and you'll wonder why you were so upset in the first place. Just make sure you don't do anything stupid, and you'll be fine."

"Da," I said with one last desperate attempt, "I'm asking you; please; help me,"

"I can't." His tone was completely dead. He didn't believe in saying good-bye, so he just hung up.

I held the phone for several seconds before hanging it up. He hadn't made me feel any better. This could _not_ just be because of Rut Season. I had expected being horny for a few weeks; not this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and impending doom.

But Da had been right about the being taller thing. I hadn't noticed that. I had been too worried about how I looked. But now was I too tall? How tall were normal kids my age? Would I not stop going and become one of those giants from TV that could never lead a normal life? What if I got so tall, that I would become too skinny and look like some kind of anorexic?

I wanted to call Da back, and see what he thought about all of those things, but decided I wouldn't bother him. If he didn't care that I was loosing whatever grip on life I had before, then I would just keep it to myself. He'd regret it when I did something destructive just because he refused to help me.

I stood near the phone a long time, before Krillin asked, "Are you okay, kid? You feel better?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I do." It was a lie, but I didn't want to seem like I was being overly dramatic. Da's little talks almost never made me feel better; usually, they made me worry about things I hadn't even thought of before.

Krillin nodded, but did not seem to believe me. "Still hungry?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to bed."

I went upstairs and lay down, falling asleep within moments.

A few hours later, the house was still. I was awake, and hungry; but I wasn't going to eat. I opened the window and went outside to stare at the water for a while. The stars were out, but there was no moon. I'd never seen a moon, other than in pictures. Papa had described it to me, and it was almost always in the stories Da told; but I had never seen it.

I saw my reflection in the water, and it made me sick. I slapped the water with my hand and took off into the air.

I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing. I was leaving the island; I had been told to stay where I was; but now, I didn't care. If they didn't think it necessary to help me, then I didn't think it necessary to follow their rules.

I was in my pajama pants and a T-shirt, which did little to prevent the cold from hitting me. I didn't care. I just needed to get away for a while and think.

I went into town. I didn't have any shoes on, so I had to watch my step. I saw people who stared at me with questioning looks on their faces. I panicked, for no reason at all, and ran down an ally. Blood was rushing through my ears and neck, and I was panting, though it had not been a far run.

I slumped down onto the ground. I wrapped my arms around my chest, and just knelt there, shaking and wondering if I truly _was_ loosing my mind. Why would anyone come here? What reason did I have to be out here at two or three in the morning?

I was crouched behind some boxes, and then I heard someone say something. A woman. She was begging for her life, it seemed.

"Please, I have a daughter; please don't kill me. Here, take my purse,"

She was slammed against the wall by a man in a black ski mask; another man grabbed her arms and held them above her head. She began yelling for help, but no one came.

I stared blankly with bewilderment for several seconds before I stood up.

The man in the ski mask turned and jumped. "Hey!" He cried, "A kid!"

The other man turned around, letting his grip loosen just enough for the woman to break free and run off.

I stared at them as they came closer to me.

"What are you doing out here so late, kid?" the man in the ski mask asked. He pulled out a switchblade from his pocket, and held it low at his side.

I didn't know myself, so I just shrugged.

"Where's your mommy? I bet she's worried about you,"

I opened my mouth to reply, when the other man grabbed my ass and pulled me closer to him. "Nice and firm; I love the young ones." He buried his head into my neck and inhaled deeply.

My skin broke out into goose flesh, and I pushed him off me. I went to run, but the other man caught my wrist and held the knife to the side of my face.

"Wait, you don't want to stay a while? I'll tell you how you can make ten bucks," He pointed down, but I didn't know what that meant, so I kicked him in the head.

His head twisted sharply to one side, and he crashed to the ground.

The other man's mouth opened into an 'O' shape. "The hell…?" He asked, and then grabbed my arm. "What the hell did you do?!" He screamed at me, so I head butted him to make him be quiet.

His head exploded with blood, and he fell back onto the ground, sprawled over his partner.

I staggered back, and then ran. They were dead. I killed them. Both of them. Even though they had touched me, they were humans. I wasn't supposed to hurt humans. It wasn't a fair fight.

I didn't stop to make sure I wasn't stepping on anything, for I no longer cared. I was trembling, my heart racing in my ears. I kept running until I made my way into the heart of the city; right to Capsule Corp.

For a moment I hesitated, unsure if I should go in. I had been told to stay away, but I'd already broken that rule by standing in the yard.

My knees were shaky, and I was cold and hungry. I decided I'd go in, get some food, and then leave. Bulma wouldn't mind… probably.

It was dark, but I made sure to stay in the blind spots of the cameras. I'd spent a whole summer figuring them out, and I was surprised that the knowledge actually came in handy. I didn't think Bulma was home, which was fortunate since I didn't really want to talk to her.

I went into the kitchen, and paused, wondering how I was going to get food without being seen. I stood for about five minutes contemplating, until I heard a crash, and then a scream.

I slipped out into the hall to see what had happened.

There was a figure on the ground, and for a moment, I thought it was the humans that had attacked me in the ally. But then I realized how ridiculous that thought was, and abolished it.

The figure was swearing, shaking, and screaming in agony.

I went closer to the person, and knelt down beside them. I had an idea of who it was. "Kage?" I whispered.

His knees were curled to his chest, and his arms were overcome with violent tremors. "Aizel," He croaked out, and grabbed the front of my T-shirt with one trembling hand, "I'm dying, I'm dying," He kept whispering, "Please, don't let me die. I'm… I'm scared- I don't want to die. Don't let me die,"

I hesitated, "A-are you bleeding?"

"No," He said, but then shook his head, "I don't think so. I don't know. I don't know; I'm in a lot of pain,"

"Okay, come on. We'll go into the bedroom."

There weren't any cameras in the bedrooms. I tried to get him to his feet but he screamed.

"No, don't move me! Oh, God! My back! Ahh, I'm in too much pain to move," His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, his grip on me like a vice. He began to sob in agony.

"Alright," I said, "Okay. I won't move you." He was scaring me. I'd never seen anyone act like that before.

"Vegeta," He said suddenly, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I … I should have never said anything. I should have just been happy with what I had. Forgive me, forgive me," He repeated this over and over, pulling me down into a crushing hug. "I was so stupid," He sobbed. "And now I'm dying, and you're dead, and there's nothing I can do; there's nothing… I can do…"

He fell back onto the ground, chest heaving. He stared up at the ceiling for a while, lost in thought.

"Kage?" I asked when he'd been silent for a while. "Are you okay?"

"Do you remember," He suddenly said, "When I first came here, and it started to snow?" He laughed, as if he'd not just been in immense pain, "And I'd never seen it before, and thought the sky was falling? You called me and idiot, and threw a snow ball at me. I remember getting frost bite, and Bulma yelled at us both. Do you remember?"

He was grinning at me, as if he expected me to know exactly what he was talking about. He thought I was my father. He was confused; or perhaps delusional.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Do you want to go into the bedroom now?"

He nodded back at me, and moved to his feet. He leaned on the wall as I guiding him into one of the many guestrooms.

We made it to the bedroom before he collapsed again into a fit of screaming agony.

He curled his arm around me, pulling me down to the ground with him. His nails dug into my skin.

He was trembling again, having another of those bazaar fits. His muscles went rock hard as they clenched. He screamed loudly, his voice echoing throughout the room.

"I can't do it," He insisted, "I can't,"

I nodded, and pulled him to his feet anyway. It was literally five steps from the bed; surely, he could do that.

"No!" He choked on a sob, "Please, no more,"

That sounded familiar. I shook my head, and forced him to move all the way to the bed and lie down.

He grabbed onto my shirt again and begged, "Please, I need a drink. I'm going to die if I don't have one soon."

"I can't get you a drink," I said firmly, detaching his hands from me. "You can't have anymore."

He stared at me, and then pounded his fist against the backboard, cracking it in two. "God damn it!" He cried, "Fucking," He went off into a tangent of words I could not fully understand.

I stepped away from the bed and closed the door, flipping on the light.

He hissed like an animal, and covered his face to block the light. After a few seconds, he let his arms drop and he fell eerily silent.

He looked even worse than before, if that were possible. His face was pale, and covered with sweat. His hair was tangled and messy; his eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with red. His teeth were chattering.

"Are you cold?" I asked, stepping towards him.

"No," He spat, eyes narrowing at me.

"What are you think about?" I wanted to touch him, but I didn't think that was a good idea at the moment.

He nodded at a window. "I'm thinking about breaking the window, and slitting my throat with the glass."

I bit my lip, and went to cover him up with the blanket anyway. "Why where you out in the hallway?"

"I was looking for my drugs. The woman took them and hid them. She probably took them all herself." He was very bitter now. First he was guilty and sad, then scared, then happy, and now pissed off. He didn't seem to be able to control these violent mood swings.

I nodded and put a pillow behind his head. He stared at me with his head cocked to the side, and sweat dripping down his face.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. "Thirsty?"

He shook his head. "I'm okay." He paused. "I don't want to be left alone, though,"

I nodded. I didn't want to leave him alone; not if he wanted to cut himself.

He beckoned for me to come closer. "Lay with me," He moved over and motioned for me to lie next to him.

I did as asked, welcoming the contact, though wary of what he might do. I pulled the covers up over myself, and he put one arm behind my head and the other and the other onto the small of my back.

I looked up at him nervously. He smelled like sickness; like the people in the hospital did. Like he was dying.

He grinned at me, the motion twisting his face, and showing too many teeth. "Hello, love," He whispered, and rubbed his nose against my own. He tipped my head closer to his chest and rested his own head on top of mine.

I'd never been held like that; not the way he did it. He clung to me, like I was a critical aspect of his life. Like I really mattered.

"You smell good," He muttered, and inhaled the sent of my hair. "Like fresh air. I like it." His hand left my head, and traced down my spine gently. It kind of tickled, but I enjoyed it. It came to rest at the junction between ribcage and hip, and he rubbed his hand across it admiringly.

Then he followed the curve of my hip behind me, and found my ass, which he squeezed.

I jerked, and tried to pull away from him.

"Shhh," He said to me. "It's okay. It's really nice."

He squeezed it again, but not in a gross way; more like he just wanted to know what it felt like. He eventually pulled his hand away, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. I actually kind of liked that. It was not the same thing as when the men in the ally had done it; this time, it was welcomed.

His hand continued to roam across my body; down my arm, chest, legs, and stomach; until it stopped right at lining of my pajama pants.

He hooked a finger into it, and pulled slightly.

My hands were on his immediately. "Don't," I said, my voice unsure.

"Relax." He replied. "I won't hurt you." And he kissed me. His mouth moved lazily across my own, catching my lips between his teeth and nibbling on them. He stoked my hip with two fingers, until I eventually relaxed and let his hand go.

He pulled his other hand out from under me, and got up onto his knees, with a leg on each side of me. I think grown-ups call it 'straddling'.

He broke the kiss, and stuck his fingers back into my pants. He brushed against the strip of hair down there, which made me shiver slightly.

He kissed my neck, and flipped my shirt up. He kissed each nipple, and then trailed down my chest and stomach. I began to tremble in delight, as well as terror. I shouldn't be letting him do this; but I didn't really know what he was going to do.

He came down to my bellybutton and swirled his tongue into it.

I moaned. It was the first time I'd ever moaned in my life, and I was surprised that such a simple flick of the tongue could do that to me. I was hot, my face flushed; and my pants were tight.

He pulled my pants down to mid-thigh, pulling my underwear with them. My erection flipped up, and I took a shaky breath as the cool air hit it. He looked up at me, wild excitement in his eyes.

"It's nice," He commented, "Ever had a hand-job?"

"No…" I'd never heard the word, but I had an idea of what it was.

He grinned widely. "They're fun, trust me."


	6. Chapter 6

He curled a fist around my arousal.

"Wait, don't-" He moved his hand upward, and I froze. I was torn between the fear of letting this get out of control, and the curiosity of what he intended to do.

"Stop?" He asked, though he did not stop moving his hand up and down. A funny little glint was in his eye; something that fascinated as well as terrified me.

"I…" I couldn't decide what I wanted at that moment.

He stroked all the way from base to tip. "If you want to stop, I will."

I didn't respond, overwhelmed with too many feelings to count.

"If you're scared, I'll stop."

I was scared, but I moaned in spite of myself, my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I'd never made a noise like that before, and it excited and confused me all at the same time.

This encouraged him to keep going.

He began moving up and down faster and faster until I knew I was going to come. I clenched my jaw, and then my brain exploded with intense euphoria, my body shaking.

He withdrew, and sat back on his haunches. "You're quick," He said with an impish grin.

I was panting, my body overcome with waves of pleasure. I was too distracted to even care that he was making fun of me.

"Not too many orgasms, huh?" He asked, grabbing a tissue from the side table to clean me off.

I shook my head. I'd never had one up until then; not even by myself.

He whipped off my stomach and pulled my pants back up. Then he lay back beside me; subtly flicking his own erection, as if I wouldn't notice.

He realized that I was really relaxed, so he patted my belly with a small laugh. My parents used to do that when I was little. "Are you spent?"

I nodded slowly, and continued to stare at him, eyes half-closed and glossed over.

He was unlike anyone I knew. He seemed like the polar opposite to Da. Da never wanted to show any kind of affection to anyone, or to share any kind of personal information. Kage, on the other hand, was willing to share anything you ask; even the embarrassing, or painful things; and he was a touchy feely kind of guy. He also didn't seem to have a sense of what was socially appropriate; either that, or he didn't care.

His tail came to wrap around my own, and I let him do so. I'd never really used my tail for anything, besides grabbing things off the floor, or balancing in trees. Other than that, it was kind of just there. But the way he ran his own tail across mine gave me goose bumps.

He put his head down onto the pillow, as if he were 'spent' as well.

"I hate this place," He suddenly said.

"Capsule Corp?" I asked vaguely, mimicking the motions of his tail and enjoying the tingle that went up my spine.

"No," He responded. "This whole damned planet." He rolled over onto his back and put an arm behind his head. "We should run away together. We could take one of the space ships, and just leave."

I gave him a look. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I remember where all the trade routs are, and I know how to make money."

I shook my head. "I can't leave."

"Why not?"

"Because. My parents would freak. They would go to the ends of the universe to find me, and they would drag me back here. I know they would."

He shook his head at me this time. "You're Da might not. If he's anything like the one from my time, he wants to get out of here just as much as I do. He asked me if I wanted to leave with him once." His eyes became glossy. "I talked him out of it. That was before I realized I loved him, though. If I'd known any better, I would have said yes, and he and I might have had a chance."

"Well… what happened? You know, why'd you kill him?"

He frowned; either because he was unsure himself, or the memory was difficult to retell. "I… I was fifteen, and it had been Rut Season. I begged him to sleep with me, but he wouldn't. He went to Goku instead. He kept telling me I was too young, that he'd hurt me, all this other crap that didn't make any sense. After Rut Season, I realized that I really, really liked him. I told him so, and he told me that it was just the aftereffects of Rut Season.

"About a month passed, and I couldn't stop thinking about him. So I went back to him and told him I was in love with him. He said there was no such thing as love, and even if there was, he was old enough to be my grandfather." He repositioned his arms behind his head. "I never understood why he kept telling me I was too young; I had had lovers twice his age before. So I figured it must be his way of saying he wasn't interested in me.

"I began drinking to try and deal with that. And then, at some point, I began to blame him for all the shit that had ever happened to me; as if it were entirely his fault some how. I was too young and out of my mind to think of anyone but myself." He took a shuttering breath, his eyes falling shut. "And then I began to get out of control. Every insecurity I'd ever had was suddenly out there for everyone to see, and I was scared that no one would be able to help me. That I would be like that for the rest of my life."

He opened his eyes, which were shinny with tears.

"So I waited until he hurt himself with the gravity machine. Until he was unconscious in one of those regeneration tanks. And I cut him. Slit his throat ear to ear. He didn't even know what I'd done until it was too late." He took another of those shuttering breaths. "And he looked at me… and I saw the confusion and the shock…and …and then he was dead," his voice broke, "And I was terrified. So I ran off, and went to a night club, and I drank myself into a coma. Then I started smoking pot…. And then started with heroine and cocaine… and now… I'm an addict." He began talking faster. "And I want to stop, I just want to end it all, but I can't. I'm stuck; and I'm afraid that if I stop, I'll die; and if I don't stop, I _know_ I'll die."

His voice was a whisper by the time he was finished.

I stared at him for a long while. What did you say to someone who killed your father in another time? What do you tell them? What's the right thing to do? Forgive them?

I decided it was best to let the subject drop. He probably wouldn't remember tomorrow anyway. "Hey," I sat up onto my elbow. "It's my birthday."

He blinked at me slowly, and then his face broke into a sad, but genuine grin. "You're so cute." He ruffled my hair, his worries and cares seeming gone for the time being. He pulled me closer to him, and he smelled my hair again. "I love that smell," He muttered, before he fell asleep.

The next morning, I was awoken by wrenching. Kage was throwing up in the bathroom across the hall. His back was toward me, and he was doubled over.

I did a quick check to make sure we were still alone, and checked the driveway for a car, for extra precaution.

I quickly left the bedroom, passed underneath the camera, and slipped into the bathroom. I knelt beside him, running a hand down his back.

"Are you alright?"

"No," He cried, whipping his mouth. "My stomach feels like its being torn apart. My back's in a vice, and my knees keep locking. I can't do this anymore. I'm going to die if I don't have a _drink_,"

I glanced around the room as he began to vomit again. He didn't have anything in his stomach, so all that left his mouth was greenish bile.

He seemed to finish, and he lay himself down on the bathroom floor, curling his knees to his chest. He was shaking, like your muscles do when they're exhausted.

"Are you still in pain?" I asked, rubbing his back a little more.

"It comes in waves," He explained, "One minute I'm fine, the next I want to kill myself."

I nodded and began to message his back wordlessly.

This seemed to sooth him, for he relaxed considerably, his fists and toes unclenching.

"You alright now?"

He nodded and rolled over like a dog that wants its belly rubbed. His head fell to the side as I rubbed his stomach and chest for a while. My fingers brushed over a nipple, and he moaned exaggeratedly. He laughed at my expression and ruffled my hair.

When the 'wave' had passed, he seemed able to stand up. "Are you hungry?" He asked as I helped him back into the room, careful to stay out of view.

I shook my head. "Why, are you?"

"No," He admitted, "But you're still growing. You need to eat,"

"I'm fine." I insisted. I could stand to shed a few pounds anyway.

He didn't argue with me anymore, and just lay down.

"Hey, where are you supposed to be?" He suddenly asked me, out of the blue. "Won't your parents be worried?"

I shook my head. "They don't ever know or care where I am. But I'm _supposed_ to be at Master Roshi's."

His eyebrows rose. "For Rut Season?"

"Yeah."

He nodded, "So then, won't Master Roshi be worried about you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."

"Well, you don't need to stay here if you're supposed to be somewhere else. You can leave,"

"But I don't want to leave." I insisted.

He swallowed, the muscles of his jaws tightening. He stared at me for a long while. "I think you'd better go, Aizel," He whispered to me. "You don't want to…get into trouble… do you?"

I cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "What if you get hurt while I'm gone?"

"How could I get hurt?" His gaze was unwavering.

"You said you wanted to kill yourself whenever those waves hit you,"

He seemed to consider this. "Alright, stay if you want." He paused, seeming lost in thought.

Last night, I had been hesitant to lay in bed with him. Now, I did so without a second thought. What a difference one night can make.

"Do you believe in love?" He asked, patting down his pockets as if looking for a cigarette, and then giving up.

I thought for a moment. "Well… I think there are different kinds of love. There's love you have for your family, which is there no matter what, and the love you have for other people that can…" I trailed off to think of the right word.

"Dwindle?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I paused. "Do you believe in love?"

He cleared his throat and was silent for a moment. "I think you're right about the degrees of love, but I also believe that there is a very thin line between love and obsession. Let's leave it at that."

I thought about this for a while, laying my head onto his chest. I could hear his heart. It was like a metronome; slow and deliberate. I liked it. It was like a wordless lullaby.

Before I knew it, I was sleep. I had that dream that a lot of people have; the one where you're falling. It was a bazaar feeling, to fall, especially for someone who could fly, and who'd never fallen in real life.

Something touched my head, and I jerked awake. Kage was running his fingers through my hair.

"Sorry," He muttered, but did not look down at me. His scarlet eyes were fixed before him at the wall, as if it were a TV or something.

"It's alright…" I watched him for a few moments. "Hey… this might be a dumb question but… Why are your eyes red? I mean, are you albino, or something?"

He blinked slowly, his eyes refocusing. I wondered for a moment if he'd heard me, but then he said, "It's a pigment deficiency, that's all. There's no brown in them."

"It's kind of cool,"

He nodded a thanks, "When I was little, people; especially old people; told me I was possessed by the God of the Underworld. That's how I got my name. Kagen is the God of Dead."

This sent chills down my spine. "You don't really believe that,"

"Course not. I don't believe in anything."

I let my gaze fall away from his. He was entirely too confusing for me. He talked in riddles that made no sense, but at the same time, made all the sense in the world. "In your time, where did you grow up?"

He shrugged beneath me. "Here and there. Mostly on a cargo ship with that guy I told you about before. It wasn't much of a childhood; nothing like what you have here."

"What do you mean?" I probably shouldn't have asked, but I had a feeling the answer was important. That it would tell me… something… about him.

He waved his arm, motioning around the room but meaning life in general. "You have a family. You have friends. You have a place to sleep, food to eat. You go to school. You can wake up tomorrow, and know that everything will be exactly the same as it was today. You have stability. You have certainties."

These didn't sound like very glamorous things, but he seemed to think so. "But you have-"

"What? What do I have? Drugs? An addiction?" He scoffed and sat up, pushing me off him more forcefully than necessary. "Go home. Or to your island, or wherever you're supposed to be. I'm going for a drink."

I got up to follow him. "But you said you wanted to be sober,"

"Well, like K-Mart, sobriety sucks."


	7. Chapter 7

I waited for him for an hour. Finally, I decided he wasn't coming back, so I left. I went back to Master Roshi's to face whatever punishment they'd give me.

When I came back, Krillin was at the front door, with his arms crossed, and a deep frown on his face. He was much shorter than I, so his overall appearance was somewhat amusing.

"Morning," He said icily. "And just where have you been?"

I shrugged my shoulders without a response.

He sighed. "I know that you don't like being cooped up here, but it's for your own good. Your dad's my best friend, and he asked me to keep an eye on you. What's he going to say when he finds out you were gone all night?"

I crossed my arms as well. "I'm not a little kid. I can take care of myself."

"I understand that you're not like other teenagers. You're much stronger, and you probably can take good care of yourself. But your parents asked me to make sure you didn't get into trouble, and that's what I'm going to do. So, you're grounded."

I scoffed. "No offense Krillin, but you're not my father. And I've been grounded pretty much since I was six and a half up until now. There is honestly nothing you can do to keep me in check, or keep me under control."

Master Roshi stepped out of the house. "Kids these days. No respect for anyone."

I grit my teeth. Old people think they know everything.

"I have a job for you to do, Aizel. And if you have any shred of respect for your father, you'll do it." He handed me a bucket and a paint brush. "You know how these work?"

I frowned deeply. "Yes, sir,"

"Good. Now, paint the whole house. If I see one drop on the windows or doors, I'll make you start all over." He smiled brightly. "Have fun."

He and Krillin disappeared into the house.

I set the bucket down on the sand. Like I was going to paint the old man's house. He thought he could guilt trip me into it with that whole respect for your elders shit. I snorted.

My stomach growled, and it must have been loud, for Master Roshi poked his head back outside. "And you won't get any food until it's done."

I groaned, and went to open the paint can.

It was noon before I was even half done. The trimming took forever. After another grueling hour in the hot sun, I finished. I checked over the windows and door, and then went inside.

"I'm done," I announced bitterly.

"Fantastic," Master Roshi said. "And as promised, here's your reward."

He set before me a plate of steamed fish and rice. My hands were covered with paint, but I didn't care. I hadn't eaten since breakfast the previous day. I felt faint, and I understood now how easy it was for a Saiyan to starve. Every precious calorie counted.

Krillin sat down at the table, staring at me. "So, where were you, really?"

"I was," I paused to swallow, "In town. I was just walking around. Needed some time for myself."

"You didn't do anything, did?"

I thought it best to leave out the incriminating parts, "Nope. I was a little angle all night." If they had known me, they would have caught that I was being sarcastic.

That seemed to brighten him up. The phone rang. He got up to answer. "Hey, Goku!" He said cheerfully and paused, "Yeah, you want to talk to him?" He handed me the phone without a word, a huge smile on his face.

"Hello?" I answered after I swallowed.

"Hey son!" He cried, "Happy birthday!"

I grinned. "Hi, Papa. Thanks."

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you," He went on in a hushed tone, "But Da says Happy Birthday too."

Da had never wished me a happy birthday in my life, so I knew it was a lie, but it was nice of him to lie to me anyway.

"Okay, I gotta call your brother now. Bye!"

"Bye," I replied, and he hung up. For some reason, I felt a little more depressed than before.

I wondered how Lysander and Vienna were doing. They couldn't possibly be having as tough a time as I was.

Things were so mixed up and confusing now. My emotional rage before rut season was pretty much mad, happy, and sad. Before, it was easy to know exactly how I felt and why. But now I was anxious, excited, frustrated, exasperated, worried, completely insane (although I don't think that's a feeling), and every other adjective that describes bipolar disorder; and, I think, I was in love.

I had never been truly in love before, so I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to call it. No one had ever taken the time to sit me down and explain love to me. Not my parents, or a teacher, or a book, or even TV, which had taught me pretty much everything I know about the world. I had seen Lifetime; I had taken the time to roll my eyes at it. But this was different. This was not something that was expected from everything on TV.

Whenever I thought about Kage, I felt weird. Not weird in a bad way, though. It was like… it was like liking someone so much for reasons you don't even understand to a point where you feel like if you don't do something quickly, something will happen, and you'll miss your chance.

That's how I felt. I felt like if I didn't go tell him, or do something, someone else would steal him from me. But then I think, 'Who would want a murderous drug addict?' And then I think, 'I would.'

It was strange to think these things. I had never had an erotic thought about a man in my life, even though I had never been opposed to the idea. But now, all I could think of was him. I fantasized about him doing random things; cooking, washing dishes, taking out the trash; all naked.

I wondered if Lysander was thinking the same thoughts I was. Probably not. He was pretty in to girls. He always wanted to talk about them; or at least parts of them.

Never mind.

I decided I would sneak out again that night. That little voice in my head said I shouldn't; the one that tells you not to do bad things; but I didn't pay much attention to it. I think it's used to being ignored.

And besides, I had to make sure he made it back alright.

So I went up to my room to be 'grounded' for a few hours. I found a ball and threw it up against the wall for a while. Then I drew some pictures of the stuff in my room; the dresser, the closet, the light fixture. Then I played with the blinds.

Finally, I managed to get myself tired enough to fall asleep.

I dreamed of nothing.

When I woke up, I was met with a strange feeling. The light was still on in the room. All the color had drained from everything; to be replaced by red.

I grew hot, panicked. Was I going blind? What-

Krillin was in my room. He was nailing the window shut. I stared at him curiously, trying to still my beating heart.

"I'm nailing the window shut," He told me. Unnecessary chatter. I could see what he was doing. He just wasted five seconds of my life. "It probably won't stop you, but I'll know if you left."

I nodded, already thinking of another rout of escape. I couldn't stay here. This place was too closely associated, at least in my mind, with death. I felt that if I stayed here, I would die.

He said good night, and I did not reply. I could not. I couldn't remember how to speak. I was suffocating, and no one even realized it.

I lay in my room for a long while, spacing out, trying to rationalize everything. That strange, life altering terror gripped me. The same terror I had felt back at the house when Da had pretended to drown me.

My lips trembled. Eventually, I could take no more. I had to get out of here. It was too hot; there wasn't any air. It was like being inside a kiln.

I forced open the window, ripping out all the nails. I was coughing, trying to breath, fumbling to get outside before that heat consumed me.

I fell onto the sand and lay on my back for a while, dazed, the heat still biting at me.

"I know that hurt," A voice said.

I looked up and squinted. The red made it difficult to distinguish figures from the dark.

A moment later, something fell next to me. I glanced at it. It was a banana.

"Hungry?" The person asked.

I wasn't. "I…" I tried, but I was too overwhelmed to make a sentence.

The person left the roof they sat on the sat down in the sand. Erie red eyes reflected the light of the stars.

Kage grabbed the banana and began to eat it, peal and all. "These things are the best. I can't believe I went an entire childhood without ever having one." His tail thumbed against the sand. "Having a good day?"

I was dying, and he wanted to know how my day was? Was he blind, like I was?

"I… I can't see,"

He cocked his head until his neck cracked. "Yes you can. You just can't see anything but red. That's Rut Season for you." He inhaled deeply. "Can't you smell it?"

I inhaled, and then coughed on the dry air. It smelled of something familiar, and something unfamiliar. I guessed the unfamiliar to be the scents of Rut Season, while the familiar I knew to be alcohol.

"You've been drinking," I breathed.

He shrugged. "Who cares?"

"You said… you wanted to be sober,"

"Yeah, that's the thing about me. I lie a lot. Pretty much all the time." He glanced over his shoulder at the house. "Krillin's coming down. What do you want to do?"

"I can't go back in there," I said desperately.

He nodded. "So then were do you want to go?"

"Away from here," I cried.

He got to his feet, his thin legs bowing slightly. "Can do."

He picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. He took off just as Krillin opened the front door. We were gone before he had time to say my name.

The wind cooled me off some. It felt good to be outside, away from those suffocating walls.

Kage smelled my hair, and then made a delighted expression. He kissed my forehead dryly, as if I were his brother, or son. His tail threaded with my own. "I missed you," He whispered into my ear.

"I missed you too." I said back. My voice was returning. It must have been something about the house that was making me sick. "Do you know what happened to me? Why did I freak like that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Saiyans are not meant to stay inside all the time. You're Da should have known it wasn't a good idea to keep you there. That was just asking for insubordination."

I frowned. "But if he knew it wasn't going to work, then why do it?"

"What other choice did he have? Better to make an effort and bargain for success than to ensure failure."

I understood what he meant. I wondered what Da would do when he found out that his plan had not worked at all. He might just go postal on the entire world. End up on the six' o'clock news with a sniper riffle on top of a clock tower shouting about the evils of Capitalism. It would be funny to see that. He'd probably kill me before that, though.

I think that there truly was something wrong with me. That there had been something wrong with me before Rut Season even began, but I was too proud to say so. I was just prone to making mistakes. I had made too many to count, and they would have all been prevented, if I just listened. If I just took someone's advice, and fallowed their direction. But I was incapable of doing so.

We landed on a volcano.

"Aren't you hot?" I asked.

"Yes, if you catch my drift," His eyes raked over me hungrily.

"You know what I mean," I replied, looking away from his staring eyes. I wondered why he would take us to a place that made no sense. I left the house to cool off, not to come hang out by an active volcano.

"Why didn't I take us to the North Pole or something?" He asked himself aloud. "Well, for one, I hate the cold. And second, there's no reason to go to the North Pole unless you're looking for Santa, because apparently, penguins live in the _South _Pole."

I blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He waved his hand. "Don't worry about it, love." He stepped forward and kissed me.

I leaned into it, this being the first time we'd ever kissed standing up. His hand snaked up my shirt, and pinched a nipple.

My breath hitched and I jerked, my knees almost giving out as a throbbing erection formed in my pants.

He grabbed my ass and held me closer to him. I would have pushed his hand away, but I didn't want him to stop kissing me. I needed him then, more then I'd ever needed anyone. I needed to be with someone who was more screwed up then I was. So I could feel normal.

It was a selfish thought, I know, and I felt terrible the second after I thought it, but it was true. Perhaps the only reason I was so attached to him was because in comparison to him, I was a fucking Saint.

I had never quite fit in with… anyone before. I was the 'black sheep' at home, the freak with two dads at school, the problem kid, the dark void of lost hope… I wasn't good at anything. I wasn't smart or even all that good looking since I had an identical brother who was the 'good version' of me. I was hostile towards everyone, and that made them keep their distance. I had successfully isolated myself in just fifteen years.

This revelation was extremely depressing. Like when you're told there's no such thing as Santa or the Tooth fairy. Like part of your world has crumbled.

He pulled away from me. "What's wrong?" He asked, looking confused.

I was crying. I hadn't realized it until he'd asked me. "Nothing." I replied.

"Do you usually cry over nothing?"

I whipped my eyes violently with the back of my hand. "Yes. Just kiss me."

I devoured his lips, trying to distract myself. My hands roamed all over his body in a boldness I had never before possessed. He seemed to back down to me, submitting as if he were not the dominant one in this situation.

We sank to the ground, continuing with hungry desperation until he pulled away and cocked his head. But I wasn't quite done. I kept kissing down his throat until I came to his collarbone and bit him.

He jerked. "Ah," He said softly, but did not stop me.

I had no idea why I was so aggressive, but I knew that we both enjoyed it. He panted like he'd made me pant when he'd touched me for the first time.

I kissed down his chest, biting here and there, as I undressed him. He was less boney then the first time I'd met him. His ribs were not as noticeable, but his hips still protruded.

I ran my tongue down his stomach, past nearly defined abs, and then flicked it into his bellybutton.

He let out a hiss of air.

I bit his hip. He jerked with surprise. I glanced up at him. His head was tilted back, his eyes half closed. He clutched his shirt in one of his hands, and other hovered over my head, as if unsure of what it was supposed to be doing.

I grasped the waistline of his jeans and began to unfasten them. I realized at once he had on no underwear, and smiled to myself.

His arousal stood up proudly, pulsing hot.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do next. I hadn't thought I'd get this far.

I touched the tip of the throbbing member with one finger, pre-cum sticking to it.

He groaned, which was the first verbal sign of pleasure I had gotten from him. It had not been very loud, but I bet myself I could make it louder.

I grasped the base in my hand, and began to move up and down slowly.

He let out a breath of air, and then lowered himself to the ground, completely submitting to me. He trusted me, like I had trusted him. It would have been easy to hurt him, especially with such a sensitive part of his body before me, but he trusted me enough to let his guard down and allow the contact.

For the next few seconds, he was very quite. He was apparently not a 'screamer' like I was. Every now and then, he would moan softly, or shift his legs.

I could tell the pressure was beginning to build when he twisted sharply and sat bolt upright. Our head almost collided. His face was strained as he quickly grasped my wrist and forced me to stop.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, suddenly worried I had hurt him or something.

He shook his head, taking a deep shuttering breath. "We should finish… together."

He hastily pulled off my shirt and pants, and had me sit on his lap, facing him. He grabbed onto my own erection before I could do anything and began to stroke me, hard and rough.

The feeling was maddening. I almost came right then and there. But then I remembered what he said about being quick, and I held it back.

I wrapped my hand back around him, and we continued, each giving as much pleasure as we took.

After about a minute or two, my body was starting to seize up with the pressure. "I'm going to come," I groaned out, my head resting on his shoulder; the one I had bitten.

"Hold on for one more minute, love," He said, kissing the side of my face repeatedly.

"I can't," I cried out, my stomach clenching, just barely able to contain myself.

"Okay, okay," He said hurriedly, and then all his muscles clenched as he came. As he did so, I fallowed his lead. We became covered in each other's seed as we rode out our orgasms together.

He fell backward onto the ground, and I fell upon his chest, breathless. The heat began to leave us both, coinciding with the warm air of the volcano.

We lay for a long time, catching our breath.

He began to move first, and he swatted my bare ass playfully. "Can't wait to do that again, huh, love?"

I nodded my head, on the verge of drifting off to sleep.

He laughed. "I love when you're spent like this. Then I know I've done a good job,"

He said 'job' funny, but I didn't tell him so. I was too blown to care. My lower regions were still riding the orgasmic waves he had produced.

He gently shifted me off him and put his clothes back on. "You might want to get dressed, love. Our fun's almost over,"

I didn't know what this meant, so I turned to ask him, when I suddenly understood. I could sense my parents, both of them, coming towards us fast. And they were not happy.

Holy fuck. I was so dead.


	8. Chapter 8

I had pretty much just sold myself for a one way-ticket to Fuck Town, where I'd get to be the God-damned mayor.

"Fuck!" I cried and scrambled to my feet. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I hastily began throwing on my clothes. I had literally seconds. I threw on my pants, and pulled my shirt over my head just before my parents came into view.

Da landed first, stone-faced. Papa followed, looking pissed.

Kage regarded them with his head cocked, as he lit up a cigarette.

I put my hands behind my back, so that they wouldn't see them trembling, and know how nervous I was.

"How ya doin'?" Kage asked with a nod of his head; as if they were buds.

Without skipping a beat, Da launched himself at him, and punched him in the face. Kage fell to the ground, and the two of them started fighting. Well, Da was fighting. Kage was pretty much just there.

Blow after blow delivered without even a block in sight. I wondered why Kage was not fighting back. He seemed willing to lay there and take it all night, if needed be.

Papa finally managed to pull Da off. "Stop it, Vegeta! You said you wouldn't overreact,"

"I just said that to make you shut up,"

Papa frowned, and then the two of them began to yell at each other. Kage sat up, picked up his cigarette that had fallen to the ground, and put it back in his mouth. The right side of his face had broken out into one giant, angry purplish bruise. He watched my parents with a docile, unconcerned expression.

Finally, when they decided they were done, they turned back to Kage and I.

"You," Da nodded at me. "You were told specifically to stay away from him, where you not?"

I hated it when he talked in questions. I bit my lip, but thankfully, he did not wait for me to respond.

"And you," He turned to Kage, "You and I made a deal. You were supposed to stay away from them, or don't you remember?"

Kage got to his feet and cracked his neck. "Yeah, I remember. If you caught me with one of them, you'd kill me. I know."

Da seemed irritated. "So then what happened?! At what point did the agreement go awry?!"

Kage put up one finger as he flicked away his cigarette butt. "First of all, never expect an addict to keep a promise. Second of all, you said if you _caught _me. I weighted the options, and figured that there was a 99 per cent chance that you'd catch me."

Da seemed bewildered, as well as pissed now. "So then… what? You thought that you'd fall into that 1 per cent range?!"

Kage nodded. "Yeah. I'm not much of a gambler." He stretched again nonchalantly. "So you're going to kill me now, or something? I'm getting kind of bored,"

Even Papa made an expression as if to say, 'Are you truly that dumb?'. No man spoke like that to Da. It was practically a death wish.

"You want me to kill you?" Da asked, a smirk falling across his face. He turned his palm upwards and began gathering energy.

Kage shrugged, face completely serious. "I don't have anything to live for at the moment."

I'll admit, that hurt a little. I wasn't worth living for? Not even a little?

Da's smirk widened. "Alright, if you say so." He went to fire the blast, but Papa knocked his hand out of the way. Da turned to him with a look of rage. "Why?!"

"You're going to kill him without asking any questions? What gives you the right to decide if he should live or not?"

I silently praised Papa in my head.

"What gives me the right?!" Da cried, his eyes rolling with frustration. "He's a God-damned pedophile!"

Papa cocked his head. "You weren't upset last Rut Season, when Trunks and Gohan mated,"

I died a little bit. My brothers had mated?! That's another image that I didn't really need to think about, but inevitably would for many months afterwards.

Da's eyes narrowed. "What's your point?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, he was Aizel's age. How come you didn't go try and kill Gohan?"

"That's different,"

"How?"

Da closed his eyes, trying to contain his frustration. "Kakorot, you know this is different."

Papa shook his head. "I don't think I do." He took a step closer to Kage. "You just don't like him. You're looking for an excuse to kill him."

"He killed me!"

"Yeah," Papa agreed, "But he's sorry for it. Aren't you?"

Kage nodded seriously, his eyes shifting from me to Da to Papa.

"It's obvious he's been beating himself up about it for... years probably, and since he didn't hurt you _directly_ I don't think you have a right to kill him."

"Who cares what you think?" Da snapped.

Papa raised his eyebrows. "I would think you would care a great deal about what I think."

Oh, I know that burned.

Da glanced sideways, his eyes falling on me. "Fine. I won't kill him. But you," He beckoned for me to come closer to him. "Have deliberately disobeyed me. First I'm going to beat the shit out of you, and then we'll see what mood I'm in, and then I'll decide your punishment."

"You shouldn't have known he'd disobey you," Kage commented, lighting up another cigarette. "You can't keep him on that island for a month. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did."

Da rounded on him. "You are not in any position to tell me what I should have known! I'm so close to killing you I can almost taste it,"

Kage blew a puff of smoke. "The more boundaries you give your children, the more likely they are to break the rules."

"Don't you tell me how to raise my kid!" He lunged again and Papa held him back once more.

"Vegeta, relax. Yes, Aizel disobeyed us. Yes, you should have the right to beat him if you want,"

Who's side was he on?

"But I think you should sit down, and just listen to what Kage has to say. He's a lot smarter than you think,"

"I can't believe this!" Da said, stalking away from the group. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I'm not on anyone's side," Papa replied. "I'm the voice of reason."

"Reason?!" Da scoffed. "How much more reason do you have than me?!"

"Why are you yelling?" Papa asked, confused. "Can you not hear yourself or something?"

"Kakorot, do not mock me!" They began to argue once more.

Kage stepped away from them and came to stand next to me. "Are they always like this?"

I shook my head. "Usually only when they talk about me."

He nodded and took another drag. He offered me the cigarette. See? He just didn't know what was socially acceptable.

"Don't give him that!" Papa suddenly cried, happening to look over at just the right time.

"See?!" Da yelled. "He can't be trusted,"

"I wasn't going to take it," I said defensively.

"Do you want him to turn out to be a worthless addict too?" Da asked, motioning at me.

That must have hurt. I glanced over at Kage, who had gone rigid. His face was stony though, a mask over top of it.

Papa fell silent, thinking. Everything became quiet. The wind didn't even blow. It was _so_ hot here. Finally, Papa began to walk over to us.

He pulled me aside, as if doing so would keep our conversation secret. I knew that Da and Kage could hear us though. He knelt down to my level and put a hand on my shoulder. "Aizel, I want you to think about something. Kage has really messed up his life. He has a good heart though; I can tell; and he wants to do the right thing. I don't trust him, but I do trust you. I know you can make the right choice."

He sure did lay the pressure on thick.

What _was_ the right choice? I had been given too many mixed messages. He wanted me to do what was right, which appeared to be to stay away from Kage. But he always told me to follow my heart. Well, how was I supposed to do both? I loved Kage; I really did. And it wasn't just spontaneous teenage love. It was real love. I knew it was.

I shifted my weight to my other leg and look around nervously. I wanted to please my parents, since I disappointed/pissed them off so often, but I didn't want to give Kage up for anything.

It made me angry. The fact that they were making me choose. It would have been better if they just forced me to stop seeing him, so then I wouldn't feel so bad when I disobeyed them.

I felt myself about to break down, but I held myself together; just barely.

I looked back over to where Kage and Da were standing. Da was glancing from me to Kage, a look of anxiety on his face, and the need for vengeance on his mind. Kage was staring off into space, lost within his mind.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was interrupted.

"It's alright. I understand if you don't want to see me anymore." Kage said, that lost look still in his eyes. "It's cool." He turned away, but then turned back around again. "I want you to know that I still love you."

I wasn't sure who he was talking to. I prayed it was me. I was ready to beg him to say that he was talking to me, even if it wasn't true. Even if it was one of his lies.

Before I could say anything more, he took off into the sky.

When he was gone, my parents both turned to me.

I was silent for a long while, trying to fathom what had just happened. He had broken up with me? Because he thought I wanted to break up with him? What if I hadn't wanted to? I _hadn't_ wanted to. I had no intention of doing so. He just… _assumed_ that I did. That prick.

My face slowly shifted into a frown. This time, I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep myself together. I was going to snap, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"I hate you!" I cried, wildly, "Both of you! I hate you!"

"Aizel," Papa began, stepping closer to me.

"No! Stay away from me! I hate you! You're dead to me!"

I saw the hurt in his eyes, but he did not step back again. "We're only doing this to protect you,"

"I don't _need_ protecting! I don't need anyone's help! I'm just fine on my own! I don't care if I never see either of you ever again!"

He took another step towards me, and this time Da moved as well.

"Don't do it!" I warned. I saw a rock on the ground that curiously resembled a razor blade. I picked it up and held it to my throat. "Get away from me, or I'll do it!"

"You're being over dramatic," Da said with a roll of his eyes.

"You think I'm joking?!" I screamed. "Don't fucking test me!"

"Vegeta, what should we do?" Papa asked stepping closer to him, and thankfully, further away from me.

"Nothing. He's not serious. His hormones are all out of sync. He's just having an episode,"

I growled loudly, bearing my teeth. "I'm having an episode, huh?! I don't see Lysander out here trying to slit his throat, do you?!"

This seemed to unnerve them. They had realized this. But they didn't want me to realize it. Why?

Probably because they thought it was going to push me over the edge of a cliff I had been climbing since birth.

"I don't want you to interfere with my life anymore," I said lowly, "I want to do what I want."

"You're fourteen years old. You're not old enough to make decisions like this." Da replied with a scoff, crossing his arms.

"I'm _fifteen_, Da. And I think that if I'm old enough to procreate, then I'm old enough to decide who I love and who I don't."

He shook his head. "You don't even know what love is."

"Yes I do!" I cried back. "I love him!"

He shook his head again. "How could you possible know what love is? There's no such _thing_ as love,"

I sighed with frustration. "You're such a God-damned liar!"

"Alright, let's say there is such thing as love. How could a _fifteen_ year old know what it is?"

"Because." I replied. "I just know." I paused. "How do you know that you love Papa?"

He didn't even hesitate. "I don't love him."

That was a slap in the face, even for me, and he wasn't even talking about me. Papa looked down at the ground, letting his eyes fall shut.

"I don't love him because there's no such thing as love, boy."

"Don't call me boy, _Vegeta_. I hate it when you call me that."

"That's what you are. A _boy_. A teenage boy that's completely out of his mind. Put your pathetic little rock down, and come here. You and Lysander are going to switch places."

I shook my head. "I'm not going. I'm going to go find Kage, and he and I are going to go up into space, so you'll never see me again."

Vegeta nodded. "That's a brilliant idea. Run. Go to your addict of a fuck buddy and go off into space. I don't care."

"Fantastic!" I spat. "You won't have anyone to worry about anymore! You can focus all your attention on your precious Lysander and your darling Vienna! You can be a nice, happy family of four instead of five! There won't be any worthless screw ups around to distract you!"

That shut them both up. They were silent for several seconds as they exchanged looks of surprise. I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

I tossed the rock onto the ground. "Have a nice life." I gave them the finger and took off to find Kage.

You would think that a purge of emotions like that would leave me feeling better. But actually, I felt worse. I felt guilty, anxious, scared, worried… I wasn't angry anymore… just drained.

I landed on the front lawn of Capsule Corp, and fell to my knees, wracked with violent sobs.

I was shaking again, but this time was because of an emotional overload. They were not coming after me. I could sense they were still over by the volcano. They were probably not even talking. They were probably still staring at each other, lost in thought.

And then anger surged through me.

Why didn't anyone realize I was so fucked up? Why didn't anyone said, 'Hey, I think there's something wrong with you.'

Lysander and I shared the same DNA. Genetically, he and I were the same person. So then why was he so perfect? So normal? Why did everyone just automatically fall in love with him, and not me? What about me made us so different?

"Kage," I cried his name over and over again, until finally, someone paid attention to me. It wasn't Kage, though. It was Bulma.

She came outside in a robe, with her hair all up in curlers. "Lysander?" She asked, stepping out onto the lawn.

"No," I spat. "I'm bad Lysander. The good one's not here."

She seemed confused, and knelt to the grass. "What happened? Why are you crying?"

"Because I'm a fuck-up," I replied simply.

Her eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. Is Kage inside?"

She hesitated. She knew she wasn't supposed to let me see him. "Yes, he is… but I can't let you inside."

"My parents said it was alright."

She stood up. "I'll give them a call, and ask them first."

"Don't bother. They're not at home." I got to my feet as well as went inside without her permission. I practically lived in that house anyway, damn it.

"Aizel, you can't-"

I shut the door on her and locked it. I quickly wiped away my tears and went to go find him. Bulma was pounding on the door from outside, cursing and making a scene. It didn't matter.

I found him in the kitchen, sitting at the table. He wasn't drunk anymore. That whole thing was probably a buzz-kill. He had a cup of coffee in front of him, but it didn't look like he'd drank any of it.

"Hey," I said softly.

He did not turn to look at me. He continued to stare straight ahead. I watched him for several seconds, until he blinked, and then I took a seat across from him.

"I decided I want to go with you." I said after taking a deep breath. "Up into space."

This seemed to get his attention. "You want to go into space?" I nodded. "Really?"

"Yeah. I can't stand this place anymore."

"Have you ever been to space?"

I shook my head. "What does that matter, though?"

He cleared his throat. "Never mind." He paused. "What made you change your mind?"

I shook my head. "I was never going to break up with you. I might have said I was going to in front of my parents, but I would never have actually said goodbye."

He half-grinned and ruffled my hair like he used to. "You're a good kid."

I didn't know how I felt about him calling me a kid, but I did appreciate that he would lie to me.


	9. Chapter 9

"Well," He stood up and dumped his coffee into the skin. "You're in luck. Bulma's going to let me borrow a ship. I'll have it ready by morning. But if you help me, we can be done a lot sooner."

I stood up as well. "Let's get to it, then."

The ship she was letting him 'borrow' was in need of some work. The outside was rusted a little, and the paint was peeling. The inside was pretty dusty, and kind of small. Alright for two people, I supposed, though.

Kage circled the ship several times. "Well, the landing gear needs work."

"Do you know how to fix it?"

He nodded. "In my time, I learn quite a bit from Bulma. How about you go make a list of stuff we need."

"What do we need?"

"Just the essentials." He replied, already hunting through her tools for something. "Water, food, blankets. Whatever else you can think of. If we need anything else, we can pick it up from a merchant along the way."

I didn't bother to ask along the way to where, because I figured it didn't matter.

I got a piece of paper and a pen and started making the list. Twenty minutes later, I had completely filled the front and half the back, and had run out of things to write down. I went back into the hanger to show Kage, and see what he thought.

He nodded as I read it to him. He wasn't so good at reading Japanese. "That's good," He commented, "But you forgot a first aid kit."

I wrote that as well. "So should I go get these things?"

He nodded, "If you don't mind." He pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes and lit up a welding torch.

I took my leave, making sure to let Bulma back in.

"I'm going to call your parents," She screamed at me. "You're going to be in _so_ much trouble!"

I shrugged my shoulders as I slipped on my shoes once more. "Go ahead. They know I'm here."

I left Capsule Corp and collected every single thing on the list. It took until sun-up to get them all and pay for them (On Bulma's credit card, that is).

By the time I came back, the ship looked fantastic. The landing gear looked like new, and the whole thing had been repainted.

I set everything down on the floor and put my hands on my hips. "You work fast," I said in awe.

Kage was on top of the ship, putting the finishing touches on the paint job. There was a huge pile of spray cans on the floor all around the small ship.

When he finished, he hopped down and landed before me. A smear of grease trailed across his face, and he smelled like dirty motor oil. "Alright, outside's done. Load up."

We loaded everything into the ship, Bulma trying to stop us the whole time.

She kept following us, in and out, trying to talk us out of leaving. "Aizel, your parents will be so worried about you if you leave."

"Trust me, they won't be worried." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Aren't you going to miss everyone?"

"I don't know, since I haven't had a chance to miss them yet."

"Don't you want to stay here and get married, and start a family?" She asked, grabbing my arm.

I yanked it away. "I hate children."

"You _are_ a child! You're a child going up into space with a 30 year old man! Do you realize how crazy that is?"

Did she realize how crazy it was to stay here?

"I'm not 30," Kage replied coolly, poking his head out from the interior of the ship. "I'm 34."

She threw up her hands. "I've been trying to call your parents all morning. The second they pick up, I'm telling them what you're planning to do."

"I'm telling you," I insisted, "They already know. Da told me to go, that he didn't care."

She shook her head. "I've known Vegeta a lot longer than you have. I had children with the man, for God's sake! And believe me when I tell you, when he's angry, he says things he doesn't mean."

"Or maybe he's just a mean old man," I offered.

"You think he's mean normally? When he's angry, he knows just how to hurt, and how deep to make the wound." She stated. "I know. He's said terrible things to me before, but I can forgive him because I know that that's how he responds when he doesn't have control. He's mean so he doesn't kill you."

She was probably right, but it made no difference now. I had no intention of going back.

Once we were loaded up, Bulma asked me if I wanted to write them a note, at least.

I thought about it, and then decided that I would not. I didn't have anything else to say.

I got into the co-pilot seat and put on my seat belt as Kage opened the hanger doors. He had to do it manually because Bulma wouldn't give us the key to open them with the remote control. It made a horrible screeching sound as the gears grinded against each other.

When it was open, he began his way back to the ship.

I like to watch him walk. It was a stumbling kind of walk, yet it was oddly graceful. He reminded me of a rock star.

He got inside the ship and closed the door with a click of the lock. He sat down into the captain's seat and lit another cigarette. He began flipping switches and pressing buttons.

The engine roared to life as he pulled a lever towards him slowly. He finished off his cigarette, and flicked it into the cup holder.

"We're going to go pretty fast," He told me, "You might pass out."

I doubted that would happen, but I nodded anyway.

He pressed another button, and the ship shot out through the hanger door. The wings scrapped across the sides.

"Guess I didn't open it enough," He muttered.

Before long, the ship disappeared into the sky. Everything became darker as was approached the atmosphere.

I turned my head with great effort. My whole body felt like it weighed a ton. Kage looked perfectly fine, but I felt like I was going to puke.

"That's 10 G's!" He cried over the roar of air going past the ship. "11! 12, now 13!"

I stopped listening to him, for the corners of my eyes were growing dark. Before I knew it, I was out.

A second or two later, I gasped and rolled my head up from its position against my shoulder.

Kage was bent over me, straddling my chair. "You passed out." He was smoking again. "You alright?" He tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes.

I was so dizzy and sick. I felt like I had the flu or something. My muscles ached, my chest felt like it had been pulled through a vice. I whined something unintelligible, and Kage smiled.

"Space sickness," He said to me. "That will pass eventually." He unbuckled my seat belt and walked away from me.

I followed him with my eyes, and then turned my head when I couldn't see him anymore. He was over by the window, looking out into blackness.

"Are we in space?" I asked groggily.

"Sure are, love. See for yourself."

I floated over to him. It was pretty cool, having no gravity. When I reached him, I looped my arms around his thin waist to steady myself. He pointed out the window and I looked.

There were stars everywhere. I'd never seen so many of them. There is a faint, murkiness to the blackness, like milk in ink. I can see Earth getting smaller and smaller behind us.

"What do you think?" He asked with a grin.

I threw up onto him without answering.

A while later, after I'd been put to bed, and Kage took a shower and changed his clothes, I felt so ridiculous. I couldn't believe I threw up on him.

He crawled into bed with me after he dressed. He didn't care if I watched him dress, though I tried not to make it look so obvious that I was looking. His feet were cold.

"I'm sorry," I said immediately.

He shook his head. "Don't even worry about it. I've had worse done to me." He paused for a split second. "Are you alright now?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"What do you think of space?"

"It's incredible," I said truthfully. "Just amazing."

He laughed slightly. "You say so now. In a few weeks, you'll be sick of it." He wrapped his tail around my thigh and smelled my hair. The feel of his soft tail, and warm breath made me break out into goose bumps.

He slipped a hand under my shirt and ran his thumb across my nipple. It became hard as he kissed down my neck.

His tail ran up and down my thigh, slipping in between my legs now and then to feel me up. This drove me crazy, and every time he pulled the soft member away from me, I would groan in protest.

I boldly pressed my hand to the front of his pants, and squeezed the hardness there firmly. He curled his legs slightly and moaned into my ear.

He shifted his weight until he was atop me and kissed my lips. I loved kissing him. He was much better at it then I was, which made it into a learning experience as well.

He trailed down my jaw and whispered into my ear, "Do you have a condom?"

I jerked a little bit, by face turning red. "No," I said slowly, pressing my hand against his arousal even further.

He groaned, and then rolled off of me. "We have to stop," He panted, grabbing onto my wrist.

I sat up and rolled atop him instead. "We don't need one."

"What if…" His eyes slid shut as I slipped my hand into his pants and stroked him. "What if… you know…"

"We'll be fine," I insisted. "We'll be careful."

"Careful," He repeated, and then moaned when I began kneading him in my palm. "How careful?"

"Really careful."

He nodded, and then pushed me back down onto the bed. He pulled down my pants and kissed across my stomach and hips desperately. He pulled off my underwear and ran his tongue once across my member.

I howled with pleasure.

He lifted me up and pulled my shirt off, tossing it across the room. Then he removed his own shirt; the one he had just put on a moment ago. His pants came off next; no underwear included.

"No underwear again?" I asked with a playful expression.

"I don't believe in them," He said and smelled my hair. He had become like some kind of animal that couldn't control itself.

He slipped his fingers between my legs and teased my entrance for a moment. Then he pressed them in.

I tensed, unsure of what he was doing. It hurt a little, so I went to pull his hand away, but he wouldn't let me. "Stop," He demanded when I tried again.

"You're hurting me," I said with a low whine that I hadn't meant to let out.

"It's going to hurt a lot more if you don't let me do it." He was becoming aggressive now, and sort of possessive.

He slipped in another finger, and I bit my lip. I didn't like this. I moved my hand to try and push him away again, but he grabbed it and pinned it above my head.

"Trust me," He said with a pointed look.

I could feel him scissoring his fingers inside me, stretching me. After a moment, he withdrew and I sighed. I turned my head as he got up and positioned himself between my legs.

"We're going to do this dry," He said nonchalantly. "Is that alright with you?"

I didn't know what that meant, so I just nodded.

He nodded back, and pressed into me without warning.

It was so painful. I had thought before was bad, but this was so much worse. I felt like I was tearing. I might have been. I felt something trickling between my legs, and thought it must be blood.

I was panicked, and my eyes were squeezed shut. I wanted it to be over. I wanted to stop.

His head dropped to my shoulder as he slid all the way in with a groan. "You're so tight," He muttered. He said it again in Saiyan.

"It hurts," I choked, tears stinging my eyes. I had not been informed that mating hurt so much. Why would anyone want to do this?

"I know." He replied softly, kissing the side of my face. "Give it a minute."

After several seconds, I got used to the feeling of being filled. Kage had still not moved. I thought he might have passed out, but then he said, "Are you ready?"

I took a deep shuttering breath. "Yeah. I think so."

He did not lift his head. He simply began to move.

The friction was intense. The pain, as well as the curious warm pleasure that came with it was perverse, and baffling at the same time.

"I love you," He was saying over and over, "I love you so much."

He moved faster, slamming into me harder and faster. He lifted his head and looked me in the eye. His red ones stared into my brown ones, looking into my soul. I shuttered, overwhelmed with too many emotions.

Then he hit some kind of sweet spot inside me that made my stomach flutter and my legs lock up and my mouth spill open with a gasp.

My brain was flooded with pleasure, and pain, but I was unable to tell the difference between them anymore. Every motion was fantastic. Every touch was bliss. Every word spoken was ecstasy.

By the time I came with a sharp cry of passion, my throat was raw. I threw back my head with one last jerk as Kage pulled out of me and came onto my stomach with a series of fierce pants. I didn't even care. I was too blown to care.

He sat back, his eyes rolling shut. His muscles shook with exhaustion before he crashed down beside me.

We said nothing. I couldn't have said anything even if I wanted to.

I wasn't a virgin anymore. That thought alone was frightening, and exhilarating.

He began to move first. He sat up on the edge of the bed and began to smoke. His back flexed with each movement he made. He coughed a few times, his rib cage expanding and contracting wildly.

"How was your first fuck, love?" He asked, tapping out the ashes into a cup.

I tried to respond, but a fast rush of air was the only thing that escaped my mouth.

He laughed, and turned around slightly. His eyes left my face and trailed down my body. "That'll heal pretty soon," He commented.

I looked to see what he was talking about. A pool of blood was collecting between my legs. I closed them, trying to hide it.

He took a drag, regarding me like one would an animal in a zoo; a strange curiosity that quietly observed and noted my every move.

"So that's it for Earth?" He asked, exhaling.

I thought about it. "Well… for now, yes. I don't want to go back. It's fake; all of it. You know?"

I didn't know if he'd understand, but he seemed to understand completely.

"Love," He whispered, as if he were telling me a well known secret that could not be spoken aloud, "Everything about life is smoke and mirrors. Life is just glass, waiting to be pelted by the rocks of reality."

He sounded like Vienna. She said stuff like that all the time. I almost never knew what she was talking about, but I understood what he was saying.

My eyes trailed away from his, down his back, down the column of ribs. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his waist, and I kissed his back.

It didn't matter. I didn't care if we never came in contact with anyone else ever again. I could make my own reality. And everyone else could go fuck themselves.


	10. Chapter 10

We spent weeks simply eating, sleeping and fucking. It was almost unquenchable; the desire to mate. I had never been so horny in my life.

And hot too. God, was it hot. We turned off the heat, to where we could see our breaths, and still, we were hot.

Clothes became unnecessary, as did bathing. The less we bathed, the more enticing we became to each other. With each passing day, we drifted further away from being civilized, and more like animals.

It was bliss. I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. I'd never been so in love, or so happy in my entire life. Something had to go wrong, because everything was just too damn good.

And then one day, reality smacked me in the face.

I was lying on bed alone. Kage had left hours ago for a drink, and I had stayed behind to sleep off the exhaustion from our last bout of mating. I was deep in one of those wonderful sleeps that you don't ever want to end.

Suddenly, blinding light came in through the window.

I gasped, and rolled off the bed. I had to fight off disorientation as the ship began to shake.

I couldn't get good footing. Things were falling from the shelves, and I had no idea what was happening.

I scrambled out into the hall. By then, the entire ship was tilting in one direction. But that could not be, unless there was gravity, or–

"Are we landing?!" I yelled over the shuttering and the clanging of the ship.

"Sure are," Kage replied from a room away. "Hold on tight!"

"You could have warned me before-" An empty bottle fell of the counter and shattered over my head. I closed my eyes, and held on as best I could.

The ship tossed and turned, and felt as though it was merely seconds away from shaking apart. We got past the atmosphere, and the air was ripped out of my lungs. My ears screamed at me as the pressure increased, and then finally subsided as the ship scrapped against the ground, and then came to a halt.

I opened my eyes. My body was shaking, as if it had just had a near death experience.

I quickly stood up and raced to the bedroom to throw on some clothes. When I returned, Kage was pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

"Why did we land?" I asked, walking over to him.

He turned to answer, but stopped short. "You're bleeding,"

I whipped a hand across my forehead, and examined the smear of blood. I let out a hissing sound.

Kage left the room and returned with some gauze and a towel.

"I don't think it's that bad," I said as he pressed the towel to my forehead.

"You can never tell with head injuries," He explained. "Sometimes they bleed a little. Most times, they bleed a lot."

A few minutes later, he pulled the towel away. It was soaked with blood. He grabbed the back of my head, and pressed the towel to it harder. He led me to the couch and had me sit with my head up.

A little while later, it stopped. He wrapped up my head, and I looked like one of those war vets from the movies that got half their face blown off.

"There. You're alright." He stepped away and whipped off the blood onto his pants. He sure didn't mind being dirty. "I'm going out. You came come if you want."

"Where are we?"

"Sector 13." He began pulling his socks and shoes.

I blinked. "Where?"

"Sector 13. The red-light galaxy."

I began pulling on my shoes as well, curiosity overwhelming me. "Why are we here?"

"Don't worry about it." He stood up. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."

I followed him out onto a planet so alive; I might have had its own heart beat. There were people everywhere; creatures I had never seen before. There were bright lights, and music, and everyone seemed to be in good mood. It was the space version of Vegas.

Kage handed me something like a bracelet.

"Put this around your wrist."

"Why?"

"It's an ID band. It proves that you're 19."

I cocked an eyebrow and put it around my wrist. I wondered if I looked nineteen.

We walked around in what seemed like an aimless pattern, but Kage seemed to know where he was going. We passed several strange looking aliens; a few could have passed as humans, if they didn't walk on all fours and growl at each other.

I was looking around at all there was to see, but Kage seemed uninterested. He laced his hands behind his head and looked as though he was just going to buy a newspaper or something.

A street performer spit fire in my direction, and I became totally engrossed in his act. He took four ping-pong balls and put them in his mouth. Then he began spitting them in the air, and catching them in his mouth one at a time; juggling them. I clapped along with the audience.

"Don't mean to ruin your fun, love, but we have a few things to do." Kage said in my ear, and picking me up, carrying me off over his shoulder. The street performer swallowed a sword, hilt and all, and then spit it back up. I couldn't believe Kage didn't think that was amazing.

He carried me to a crosswalk, and then set me down. I continued to look over my shoulder until he pushed me into the street to walk along with the crowd.

A woman with dark hair came up beside me and matched our stride. "Hello," She said in a flirtatious tone. "What are you two doing here?"

"On business," Kage replied coolly. He didn't even look at her. I became distracted by her huge, double D –

"What kind of business?"

"The kind that pays." Kage said and then glanced at her a smiled. I had to stop myself from frowning. Surely, he was flirting with her. Not while I was right there.

"What a coincidence; so am I." She said this while licking her lips.

"Good for you," I said rudely. "Aren't you loosing business while you're talking to us?"

She glared at me. "And who is this? Your son?"

Kage light up a cigarette casually as we reached the other side of the street. "Lover, actually." He exhaled a cloud of smoke.

She gave me a strange look. "How old are you? Like ten?"

"How old are you? Like fifty? I bet those fake boobs are older then he is, you whore!"

She gave me the finger and strutted off back across the street, looking really cheap as she did so. The traffic began moving once she got half-way out, and a car almost ran into her. She slammed her fist onto the hood and began yelling at the driver. We moved along.

"Slut," I muttered to myself. Who the hell did she think she is? Moving in on _my _–

"A little jealous, are we?" Kage asked, and offered me his cigarette. He was always doing that, as if it were the same as sharing an ice cream cone.

I declined. "I am not jealous. She _was_ a slut."

"But you were fine with her before she started talking to me. You sure were interested in her chest."

I snorted. "Whatever."

We reached a restaurant that looked like the ones in Japan. That was good, because I was starving. I had a craving for pot stickers and Mongolian beef. If they had those, I'd be in heaven, and I could forget all about that woman.

Inside was a much different story, though. There were men everywhere, talking in hushed voices, and crowded together in tight circles around tables full of what looked like cards. It smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. There were several scantily clad women drifting from table to table, serving drinks.

Kage tapped a woman on the shoulder. "Is Chewy here?"

She looked at him, and then nodded at me. "Who's the kid?"

"He's with me."

"Don't let him out of your sight," She warned.

Kage nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Is Chewy here?"

"He'll be back in an hour. Willing to wait?" She got real close to him, her hand inches from actually touching him. I think I would have punched her if she _had _touched him.

"Yeah, we'll wait." He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from her. "Send us a waitress. I promised the kid a drink." He said over his shoulder.

I wasn't in the mood for drinking. I felt like I had to constantly have my guard up around these people. The women kept staring at us; particularly at Kage. I guess they found him attractive. Well, I did too, but they didn't really _know_ him. I felt like they didn't have the right to be attracted to him.

Since he had stopped doing drugs, he had gained some weight. He didn't look like a starved animal anymore. He looked good. He looked like someone who you think you might have seen in a movie before; not someone that passed you on the street.

In the hour we spent waiting for the Chewy guy, Kage finished off three bottles of scotch, a few martinis, and a lot of Brandy. He was smashed out of his mind. He kept touching me, and pouring more alcohol into my drink, even though it was practically overflowing.

He threw his arms around me and kissed down my neck. "You are so beautiful, did you know that?" he asked, "A work of art."

I turned my head away. He smelled terrible. "Yeah, thanks."

"I'm sleeping with fucking art," He exclaimed, and finished off his drink. "How about another martini, love?" He asked the waitress as she walked by.

She giggled and I glared at both of them. I didn't like it when he called other people 'love'.

"And a round for everyone here!" He cried, and everyone cheered.

I hoped he had money to pay for all this, because I was flat broke.

After a while, the woman from the front informed us that Chewy was in, and he was in the other room. She led us there, Kage stumbling after me.

We went into a room with neon lights everywhere, and lots of fur covered furniture. People were having sex everywhere. It was like a porno, but real life.

The woman walked right past the huge orgy and took us to anther room off to the side. A man stood near the bar, talking to two other guys. They where all huge, but the one in the middle was the biggest; I assumed that he was Chewy.

"Chewy!" Kage cried suddenly, and waved. "My man!"

The biggest man turned around and stared at us. It was obvious that he had no idea who Kage was. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, sir, you can!" Kage said, and stumbled over to him. I stood back near the door, trying not to listen to the orgy in the other room. "Okay, dude, check this out," Kage began.

"Who are you?" Chewy asked in a perfectly civilized, calm voice.

"It doesn't matter right now." Kage replied. "Check this out. I want to buy some stuff from you,"

"Some stuff?" Chewy inquired, his expression becoming very businesslike. "What kind of stuff are you interested in, my friend?"

Kage burst out laughing. "You're hilarious! But we gotta be quiet, because the kid," He paused and then moved closer to the big man to whisper in his ear. When Kage was drunk, though, he had no idea how loud he was talking; so I heard every word. "The kid thinks I'm clean."

I was three seconds away from loosing it. He was such a fucking liar! He _promised_ me that he was done with drugs; that he wasn't going to start up again, no matter what.

I ripped off the ID bracelet he gave me and tossed it to the ground. Then I turned to leave.

This was bullshit. This just showed how untrustworthy everyone is. No one actually cares for anyone but themselves any way.

It was fine, though. If he didn't care about me, then I didn't care about him.

I went back through the bar and went outside, leaving him to take care of the bills. I was the getting the hell out of here.

I walked down the street slowly, expecting him to come racing after me and try and win me back.

But… he didn't.

That hurt. More then I expected it to. Surly, he had seen me leave; but he had to interest to chase after me?

After another few minutes, I just decided to fuck all of it and ditch him.

I began to run. I didn't know where anything was, but it made little difference. It wasn't like I had anywhere to be anyway.

I tried to get into a bar, but without the bracelet, no one would let me in. I settled for sitting on the curb, wallowing in my own misery.

I should have just stayed at home. I should have just dealt with all the shit life gave me, and kept on moving. But no; I chose to go on an 'adventure'. I chose to be rebellious. Now I was fucked, and there was nothing anyone could do.

People walked by, but most of them paid no attention to me. Some asked me for change, but I honestly didn't have any.

"You having a rough night, sweetie?" A hooker asked me. She looked a lot less cheap then the one from earlier; and her chest was a plausible size as well.

"Yeah," I replied with a sigh.

"Me too." She said with a nod and sat down next to me. She smelled like cigarettes, and it reminded me of Kage. I felt like crying. "What happened to you?" She asked.

I sighed again. "A lot of things."

"I hear ya, sweetie." She offered me a cigarette. I declined. "So what's a sweetheart like you doing in a place like this?"

I shrugged. "Accident, I guess."

"You got a ride home?"

I thought about it, and then shook my head.

"Well, get one. You don't want to stay here, darling."

"How come?" I asked absently.

"Because this isn't the kind of place anyone wants to stay in. No one should have to grow up here." She finished off her cigarette, and then rose as a car pulled up and the window rolled down. "I gotta go to work. Good luck."

I waved and then felt even more sorry for myself as she got into the car and left. If hookers felt bad for me, I _had_ to be in bad shape.

I stayed on the curb a while longer, until I got tired of the people asking me for dates. Then I moved along.

It was almost morning. I was exhausted. I fell asleep on top of a roof. It was cold and uncomfortable, but I didn't care.

After a while, I was jarred awake. I opened my eyes and experienced that moment between sleeping and wakefulness in which you can't remember who or where you are.

"Are you alright?"

It was Kage.

I shoved him off me. "I'm fine," I spat as I began to remember why I fell asleep on top of a building.

"You're sure? I'm been looking for you all night."

I scoffed. "I don't believe that."

He knew I was pissed. And he knew why. "Okay, look. About last night. I had a momentary relapse in judgment, that's all."

He was coming down from a recent high. I hated him for it.

"Relapse in judgment, huh?" I asked sarcastically, crossing my arms.

He nodded. "I couldn't take it any more. I can't go without drugs, Aizel, I just can't. I can't sleep. I can't think straight. It's like…" He paused, and I suddenly realized he was completely serious. "It's like being trapped inside a maze in my own head."

I wouldn't look at him. His eyes were watery and bloodshot from the probable hangover. He began running the backs of his fingers over my arm; ghost touches.

"I love you," he said quietly. He kissed my cheek tenderly.

I didn't respond.

He laid his head down over my lap, his arms around my waist. "I'm sorry." He tried again.

I sighed deeply. "I don't know how this is going to work."

"How what's going to work?" He asked after a moment.

"This thing we have. Either you love me, or you don't. Which is it?"

He sat back up quickly. "I love you; you know I love you."

I shook my head. "This is not about what I know or don't know. If you love me, then you're going to have to get your shit together. You have to be more responsible. You could die. Seriously. Like, you could die _today_."

His eyes narrowed. "Well, maybe I don't really want to live anymore."

I cocked my head. "You don't mean that."

"How do you know what I don't mean?"

"Because. If you really meant that, then that means that you don't have anything here worth living for. And I would hope, since you supposedly love me, that _I_ would be worth living for." My voice was a whisper by the end.

He stared a me for a moment, and then got to his feet. He turned back towards me. "Come on, love. Let's get out of here. We've got the rest of our lives ahead of us."


	11. Chapter 11

He held my arms down at my sides as he entered me, and I let out a hiss of pleasure. He was covered in sweat; it ran down his chest and trickled down his narrow hips in beads. His lips were pulled back in an almost snarl, his teeth bearing.

He pulled almost all the way out, and I braced myself just before he rammed back in. I felt myself grow hotter as he went faster and harder. He still wouldn't let me move, but I didn't care. I trusted him.

Then he lifted me as he sat up, until I was sitting on his lap, and he clung to me, burying his face in my hair. He muttered unintelligible sentences in my ear as I howled for more.

The thrusting became faster, more desperate, and we came to that point just before the dam broke.

And then, with strangled cries, we finished together.

He kissed down my jaw, each one desperate and anxious, then our lips met and we continued with a slow, passionate kiss.

He laid me down on the bed, and then took up the space next to me. I watched his back rise and fall in the semidarkness. His tail was limp beside him, just as spent, it seemed. I ran my fingers over it affectionately. It bristled, and then began to wind it's way through my fingers.

I laughed to myself, and then sighed.

I missed my family.

As much as they got on my nerves, as much as I wished sometimes that I was an only child, or someone else's kid, I missed them. I missed Lysander, and all the adventures we used to have. I missed Vienna and all her talk about writers and books that I didn't understand, and Papa's obsession with food. I missed always having to fight for Da's attention, and then relishing how sweet that attention was. I missed Gohan, and Goten and Trunks, and Bra and Bulma; I even missed Chi-Chi.

I missed the house I had been born and raised in, even with the lack of space, the faucet that never stopped leaking, the flooding in the spring time, and the roof that could hardly be called a roof anymore.

I would have given up almost anything to see them all again, and tell them how sorry I was. But I couldn't ask Kage to do that. I couldn't ask him to go back at all that misery. He was still in love with Da, after all. Although he wasn't exactly obsessed with him anymore, I knew he thought about him. Asking him to go back and have to see him all the time just wasn't fair.

Everything was such a mess.

A moment later, I felt sick. I got up to go to the bathroom. I just barely made it to the toilet in time before I threw up.

I must be getting the flu, or something, because I had been sick for the past few days. But it wasn't a consistent sick. It was more like it came and went at various times, and I never knew when it would strike.

I brushed my teeth to get the taste of bile out of my mouth. When I returned to the bedroom, Kage was sitting up, drinking. He didn't smoke much anymore. Maybe he was saving what was left of his stash. He was even drinking less too.

"Are you alright, love?" He asked me in Saiyan.

I shrugged. "I don't know; I think I'm getting the flu, or something." I replied in Saiy-anese. That's what we called it at home when we switched back and forth between Japanese and Saiyan mid-sentence. Da really hated when we did that because he thought it was idiotic, or something. Papa did it all the time though; probably because he didn't always remember the word for something in Saiyan.

Kage didn't even seem to notice the switch. He continued on in Japanese. "I've never known a Saiyan that caught the flu."

Now that he mentioned it, I had never really been sick. I had chickenpox when I was really little, but I'd never had a cold, or the flu, or anything. Saiyans had quiet an immune system, I guess.

I shrugged and crawled back into bed with him. "Maybe its just space sickness still," I offered.

He finished off his drink and set the glass on the table. He didn't say anything after that.

After that conversation, I noticed that he was avoiding me. Whenever I wanted some attention, he would say he was busy or something. What could he possibly have to do? I suspected that he was trying to hide drugs from me or something.

I found him in the living room. He had a martini, and seemed to be looking at something in a book. I knew for a fact that he couldn't read a word of Japanese, so I confronted him.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

He looked up, and set his drink down. "I'm not ignoring you."

"Yes, you are. You haven't said anything to me in three days. Are you hiding something from me?"

He shook his head. "So quick to jump to conclusions. I'm not hiding anything. I just need some time to myself, that's all." He went back to the book.

I crossed my arms. "If you're not ignoring me, then why are you looking at that book?"

"I'm reading,"

"You can't even read Japanese!" I cried, frustrated.

"So?"

I threw my hands into the air. "That doesn't make any sense! What are you doing? Looking at the words and making up your own story?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing," He said, and went back to the book coolly.

I sighed and stomped out of the room.

Hours later, I went to find him again, to try and make peace. This time, he was in the boiler room, looking at the hot water heater. There was a bottle of scotch at his side, but it appeared to be unopened.

I crouched down next to him and threw my arms over his shoulders. I let my hand find a convenient place down his shirt.

"Do you want to know what I want to do?" I asked.

He hummed at me, but didn't really say yes or no.

"I want to go into the bedroom," I leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. "And maybe we could play a game, or two?"

He stood up. "I need a shower." He headed for the bathroom.

I frowned deeply, and got to my feet. That prick.

I ran after him, and forced my way into the bathroom before he could close the door.

He stared at me, eyebrows raised. "What are you doing?"

"You are avoiding me!" I accused, pointing at him. "You don't want to be around me at all!"

"That's not true, love. It's all in your head. Your teenage hormones are making you crazy," He grasped my hand to take me out of the bathroom, but I pulled away.

"I am not crazy!" I said, stomping my foot like a child. "I just want you to admit that you're trying to get away from me!"

He stepped towards me, and I put my fists up, ready to fight if need be. He put his hands on my hips, and pulled me closer to him. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but we're in a bit of trouble."

I looked up at him, still frowning. "What kind of trouble?"

"The kind that is going to pretty much change our lives."

"Are you dying, or something?" I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. It was amazing how quickly he could make my emotions change for the better or worse.

"No, I'm probably not dying. But you…" He paused to relax his grip on me a little. "You're pregnant."

I stared at him a moment, and then scoffed. "Yeah, okay," I laughed. That's ridiculous. I'm fifteen; how could _I_ be pregnant?

"I'm not joking, love," He said, his face completely serious.

I shook my head. "Whatever. How about we get a drink, huh?"

I turned to leave the bathroom. He followed me out. "Do you understand what I'm telling you?" He asked. "Do you know what pregnant means?"

I took hold of the scotch bottle and pulled off the top with my teeth. "Yeah, I know what it means."

He took the bottle from me before I could take a drink. "It means that you're going to have a baby," He put an emphasis on the word 'baby'. "_My_ baby. Do you understand?"

I shook my head again. "You're mistaken. We have been careful."

"Obviously not careful enough. You have to face reality now. You are going to be a daddy."

We stared at each other for a long time. I kept searching his eyes for a hint of a lie, but I couldn't find one. I felt my knees go weak.

He caught me in strong, but thin arms and took me to the couch, where he sat me down. "I don't mean to scare you," He went on. "But this is a serious thing to deal with. I don't know what happens to children born to parents of different times. I don't know if it's ever been done before."

I looked at him. "I hate children," I said meekly.

He went on like he didn't hear me. "This might cross some line of space-time continuum that no being is actually supposed to cross,"

"All they do is eat, and poop; that's all they're good for,"

He went on. "And think about it; technically, we're never supposed to meet. In my time, you're never born, and in your time, you never met me. Obviously, we are not supposed to have contact. Nature has a way of stopping things like this. What if the universe puts something like a vendetta on us?"

"And they cry all the time. And you have to make sure they don't swallow anything, or hit their heads,"

"What if we have to live the rest of our lives trying to cheat death? Could one actually do that? Cheat death?"

"And what if I'm a bad parent?"

He stopped in his rambling about his space-time-continuum apocalypto crap to look at me. He saw I was on the verge of tears, and he had a moment in which he did not know what to say. "Aizel, don't be ridiculous. You're going to be the best dad in the world. If anything, I should be afraid that I'm going to be a bad father."

This did not make me feel any better. I burst into tears, and began to sob so violently, I could barely breathe.

He quickly swept me up into a hug and tried to quiet me. "It's alright, shh, everything is going to be perfectly fine,"

I was shaking I was so terrified. A baby? How the hell could two people that can't even maintain themselves raise a child?

I couldn't go back home now; not after this. Da wouldn't take me back; I know he wouldn't. Despite what Krillin said; parents don't have to love their kids unconditionally. I knew there was no going back now. They would forget about me eventually; and maybe one day, I would forget about them.

This made me feel even worse.

I cried myself to sleep in his arms.


	12. Chapter 12

Weeks passed. My stomach started to grow, and then there was no denying what was going on.

I was completely absorbed with thoughts of the future; of doubts, and worries that had always been around, but now had manifest into something much worse.

I broke out in a rash from the anxiety, and I was sick all the time. Kage told me to relax, and that I was overacting.

He just didn't get it. Sure, everything was just fine for him. He was an adult. He didn't have to worry about his parents finding out, or not being able to take care of it. He didn't even have to stick around, if he didn't want to. He didn't have to have anything to do with the kid if he didn't want to.

He became overly helpful, and it just pissed me off more. He treated me like I couldn't do anything for myself.

I was sitting on the couch, and he came over. For once, he didn't have a drink in his hand. He had shaved. He looked like he had slept for more then an hour. He looked, well, good.

He leaned his elbow against the back of the couch and rested his chin in his palm. He stared at me, as if expecting something.

"What?" I asked coldly.

"I just want to look at you." He stated. He reached out to touch my stomach, but I turned away out of his grasp. I didn't want him to touch me. I was too angry with him.

"Leave me alone."

He let his head slide off his palm with a sigh. "Do you hate me?"

I seriously had to think about this. I nodded.

"Because you need someone to blame?"

I nodded again more slowly.

"Because you think that blaming me will make you feel better, even though it doesn't?"

I stared at him, my frown beginning to give way.

"Because you don't actually want to admit that it's just as much your fault as it is mine?"

That was all it took. All he had to say was a few choice words, and he could easily bring me to tears. I let out a strangled cry and began to sob. I hated him so much. He didn't even realize how much I despised him.

"It's alright." He said flatly. "You can go ahead and hate me. I can live with that." He paused. "You don't want this baby?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

"You want to get rid of it?"

I nodded again.

He licked his lips and sat up straighter. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. You carry it, have it, and then you give it to me. I'll take you back to Earth, and the kid and I will go back into space. How does that sound? You don't have to deal with a baby, and your parents never find out."

He had proposed exactly what I had secretly wanted him to. In a logical sense, it sounded like the best idea.

Sometimes, he could be so selfless, it was painful.

I stared at him for a long while. When I regained my composure, I said, "Kage… I'm fifteen. I would love for that to be a quick fix to this. But it can't be. Even though I'm just a kid, this baby is my responsibility too." I paused to take a deep breath. "And I don't think I could live with myself if I let you take it away from me."

He seemed genuinely relieved. He sat up and kissed me on the cheek. He got up to leave the room, but then raced back to kiss me three more times before he actually left.

I wondered what the consequences of my decision would be.

I went to take a shower.

I hated looking at myself in the mirror. Just looking at me was a reminder of how badly I had fucked up.

I took a long shower. I sat on the floor and let the water fall over me like rain. I missed rain. I missed air that wasn't dry and sterile. I missed trees and grass and plants.

Being up here was like being a prisoner to routine. There was nothing to do, and there was nothing different about each day. I was with Kage, but how worth it had this adventure been?

Later that day, after I had used up all the hot water and I still didn't feel any better, and tried to get some sleep. I had a terrible headache. Probably a migraine. My eyes hurt from not only my headache, but also from my exhaustion. I didn't sleep well anymore.

Hour passed, and I must have fallen asleep, because they passed in a blink of an eye. I was hungry I vaguely wondered if I could talk Kage into making pancakes. I wasn't allowed to cook anything since I caught the kitchen, and myself, on fire.

I got up to go find him. He was in the living room, passed out. He'd been drinking.

He was the most inconsistent person I ever met. He would say he wanted to stop, but he'd continue to drink, just because it was there, I suppose. He needed a drink before he could do anything.

I didn't mind the drinking itself; it was his body, he could do what he wanted. But I was angry when he acted like a fool when he was drunk. He'd try to get me to sleep with him, and if I gave in, he'd usually pass out before either of us was finished. He'd have these violent mood swings that made him too unpredictable for my taste. Sometimes he'd be happy and boisterous; but other times, he was just plain mean.

I gritted my teeth and knew at once what I was going to do.

I gathered up as much alcohol I could find. He hid it in the strangest places; the book shelves, under the bed and couch, behind the toilet, under the kitchen sink, inside the vents. I even discovered a shampoo bottle that was full of scotch.

Once I gathered all the booze I could find, it put into perspective how much he actually drank. After a few weeks, we would always land, and he would go out to buy more booze and other supplies. If he was buying this much every time we landed, I doubted that there was any blood left in his body it all; he just ran on alcohol.

I began opening the bottles one by one and pouring them down the drain. I hummed while I did it. I wondered how upset he would be when he found out all the booze was gone. He'd probably be pretty mad at me for a while. He might even stop speaking to me.

I was just pouring out the last bottle when I heard him moving around in the living room.

His feet padded across the threshold and then he stopped just inside the kitchen. "Aizel?" he asked, genuine fear lacing his voice.

I turned around innocently. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing anymore," I responded. "Just taking out some trash."

His nostrils flared as he surveyed the damage. Then he stalked out of the room; I guess to go see if I'd actually found it all.

He returned some time later, looking disheveled. I must not have left any behind. "Why would you do this to me?"

I was drying my hands on a towel. "I'm sick you drinking all the time. If we're going to have a baby, you can't drink anymore." That was not the real reason. I just wanted him to hurt like I did.

His eyes were rolling as he tried to contain his rage. He was still plenty drunk, so it was more difficult then usual.

I'd never seen him angry; never truly angry. I realized at once my mistake. He was just like Papa; slow to anger, but unstoppable once he reached his breaking point.

His fists were clenched, his muscles quivering with rage. I could feel that he was about to go off, but I wasn't sure what he was going to do.

He bore his teeth and growled at me like an animal. Then he rushed at me and caught my jaw between his hands. "Why? Why throw away what was mine, you little brat? You had no right to pour out all by booze. I'm going to rip your little throat out," His voice was low; completely serious.

He let my face go so I could talk.

"You don't need to drink," I said slowly, while at the same time trying to angle myself towards the door in case I had to run.

"You don't know what I need to do!" He shouted, pounding a fist onto the counter. It cracked in two. "Do you even know what you've done?!" He was before me again in two strides. He grabbed my arms and shook me. "You have killed me, you prick! You have killed me!"

I stared at him. I couldn't figure out if he was speaking literally, or metaphorically. "Let go of me," I whispered calmly, though my voice wavered with fear.

He ignored me. "You think I was drinking all that for fun? Because I liked it?! No! It's so that I don't hurt people! Don't you understand?!" He shook me again, and I could feel the bones in my arms sliding against each other painfully. If he shook me any harder, he'd probably kill me.

"Kage, let me go," I said again, louder. The alarms were going off in my head. I needed to get away from him. My instincts were telling me to fight, or run; and I didn't intent to fight him while he was like this.

He loosened his grip and shoved me back against the wall. I saw my chance to bolt, and went to take it, but he was there before I got too far. He grabbed both my hands in one of his.

He hit me across the face. It was such a quick and shocking blow, I hadn't even known what happened until I was conscious again a moment later. My mouth hung open, and blood ran down onto my shirt. I was dizzy, and it felt as though there was a vice around my head.

I realized he still had my hands, so I braced myself for another blow.

He all of a sudden let me go, and backed off.

I didn't stop to look at his face. I took my chance, and ran to the bedroom. I locked the door, and pushed the bed and dresser up against it. It would not stop him if he wanted to get in, but what else could I do? I could not fight him. He was a lot stronger then I was; that blow had proved it.

I quickly went into the bathroom and locked myself inside.

I had never been scared of him. Now, I was terrified. If I had known he would react this way, I would have left him alone. Let him drink himself to death.

I felt him coming closer, and I unconsciously braced myself as if he were in the room with me.

I glanced at myself in the mirror. My cheek had a huge red welt across it. I was going to have a black eye; but at the moment, that did not matter.

I didn't hear anything for a long time, and I thought maybe he had passed out. I hugged my stomach unconsciously, as if that would protect it if he were to storm in and get me.

Then there was a knock on the door and I jumped nearly out of my skin. I had not heard him open the bedroom door, or push all the stuff out of the way. But now he was right in front of the door. I imagined his angry, wild face, and shrunk back into the furthest corner of the bathtub.

"Aizel," He said gently from the other side of the door, "Can I come in?"

"No!" I shouted desperately. "Go away!" My voice was trembling, just like the rest of my body.

He was quiet for a minute. "I'm sorry I overreacted," then his voice dropped. "I'm sorry I hit you."

I didn't answer. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing; and I was afraid if I didn't say anything, it would make him angry. "I'm not sorry for pouring out all your booze," I didn't know what I as doing. Was I _trying_ to make my situation worse?

"That's fine, I don't care," He said quickly. "It doesn't even matter. Can I come in and talk to you?"

"No!" I insisted. I didn't want him near me. And if he really wanted inside, he could have easily gotten in.

"Can you forgive me?"

"No,"

He sighed, and I heard him slump against the door. "I… I think you're right. I have a problem."

I didn't say anything.

"I don't want to admit it… but I do. I'm an alcoholic. And it's making this thing we have going harder then it needs to be. I just don't have any control." He seemed discussed with himself. "And just because I'm upset doesn't give me the right to hurt you, or anyone else." He sobbed suddenly.

Crying was worse then yelling. At least with yelling, I knew what to expect. Crying was too unpredictable, and therefore, scary.

"I've… become someone that I hate. Someone that I promised myself I would never become. When I was your age, I promised myself, 'I'll never be like him. I'll never let it get that bad.' But here I am, twenty years later, on the same path as he was. History is doomed to repeat itself."

I wondered who he was talking about. It hardly mattered. He seemed genuinely sorry.

"My father was a drunk too," He said suddenly, "And he beat the shit out of me every day for almost ten years." He became very serious. "But this is different. You aren't my son. I don't have the right to punish you. I don't even have the right to touch you. You should never have a reason to be afraid of me." He gave a shuttering sigh. "And I've failed you."

I unlocked the door, and opened it. He turned to face me, and then hissed. "Holy fuck," He whispered and got to his feet. "I'll go get you some ice."

I grabbed his arm. "Forget it. We have to talk."

I noticed that he had put the bedroom back to the way it was. He did not like change, even in the simplest of forms.

We sat down on the bed.

"I want to go home," I said first, "Once this baby is born. I want to go back to Earth, and I want to go home."

He nodded, eager to comply with anything I wanted.

"And I want you to come with me." I added, which surprised him. "I want you to be my…" I struggled for the right word. "Husband. This baby's father."

He seemed confused, and shocked, but he nodded anyway.

"And I want you to go to rehab. I'll take care of the baby, and you go and get clean. Then we can start over like nothing ever happened. We can move on."

He stared at me for a moment. "I wish I had known the things you know now when I was your age. I wish I knew the things you know _now_."

I nodded dismissively. "So, what do you say?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. I'll do whatever you want. I'll never take another drink as long as I live. No more drugs, no more booze. I won't even smoke anymore." He took my face in his hands. "And I will never, ever hurt you again." He ran a thumb gently over the bruise that was forming over my face.

"Promise me one more thing," I whispered.

"Anything."

"Promise that you won't leave me. That you won't give up, and leave me all alone." I wouldn't be able to handle that if he ever did. I would be crushed with sadness, I'm sure.

"Never," he responded without skipping a beat. "I won't ever hurt you."

I nodded and rested my head on his chest. He kissed the top of my head and smelled my hair.


	13. Chapter 13

Kage went through a period of hard withdrawal. He spent most of his time down in the boiler room because he was so cold. He looked like he had the flu. His eyes were watery and blood-shot, and he shivered all the time. He was always covered in cold sweat, and the vomiting just would not stop.

I tried to get him to eat, but his stomach would reject it. I tried to get him to take a shower, but he said that the water hurt him. He smelled like death.

I began to worry that he _was _going to die. I was always awake, checking on him, to make sure he was still breathing. I probably woke him up several times an hour just to be sure he was still with me.

I went into the kitchen to get something to eat. I was always ravenous now; like I could never have enough to eat.

As my toast popped up from the toaster, I felt a sudden thump from inside my stomach. I stood stalk-still for a moment, and felt alongside my stomach. It thumped again.

I couldn't be going into labor; it was weeks before the baby was supposed to be born. I felt a wave of panic, and left the kitchen in a hurry.

I had promised I would leave him alone, but I woke him up once again. He groaned and looked up at me through pitiful red-rimmed eyes.

"Something's wrong," I said quickly, and pressed his hand to my stomach. "Do you feel that?"

He felt along my stomach for a moment. "Yeah,"

"What is that? What's going on?"

He let his hand flop back down to the blanket he lay naked on. "Nothing. It's just kicking."

I cocked my head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," He said, turning away from me and curling his arms under his head like a pillow.

I sighed, and stood up. Before I left, I looked him over. His bones stuck out in almost every place imaginable. I knew he should eat something, but he couldn't keep anything down. He was almost as skinny as he had been when I met him.

I went back to get my toast, and then sat down on the floor to stay with him a while.

He must have smelled the toast, for he rolled over to look it, and then at me.

"You want some?" I asked.

He shook his head. He got up from the blanket, and then stumbled against the wall for support. "Water," He rasped.

I nodded, and followed him into the kitchen. The baby was still kicking like crazy. It hurt, actually. It had to be a boy. I don't think a girl would be this aggressive.

He got a glass of water, and then rinsed out his mouth before taking a drink. He looked miserable. I felt a twang of guilt.

"So, what do you think we should name it?" I asked to distract him.

He rubbed his face and his eyes rolled as if to try and refocus them. "What are you saying to me?"

"The baby? What should we name it?" I said more slowly.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Bob,"

"That's a terrible name." I said at once. "That name says 'I thought about this kid's name for three seconds'."

"Not even," He agreed.

"Come on, think of something better."

His head whipped back with exasperation. "You're creative. You think of something."

And then he made his way back to the boiler room on stumbling, exhausted feet.

I thought long and hard the rest of my waking hours. Now that the baby was kicking, I actually had to acknowledge it was there. And maybe if I gave it a name, it wouldn't be so scary.

I went through literally hundreds of names before decided on two that seemed perfect. I went to consult Kage.

He seemed annoyed that I woke him for the thousandth time, but he did not say anything. He just lay on the floor and listened.

"Okay. If it's a boy, how about Jackson, and a girl, Emma."

He shrugged and rolled back over.

"What do you think?" I asked with a sigh.

"I hate them both." He muttered.

"You hate them?" I repeated, and then frowned. "What don't you like about them?"

"Jackson is a last name, and Emma's a stripper name." He said simply.

"Lots of kids have last names as first names, and it is _not _a stripper name!"

"Fine. Name it whatever you want."

"I want your opinion. I don't want to name it something that one of us doesn't like."

"How do I know it's even my kid?"

I knew he was joking, so I rolled my eyes. "Just help me think of better ones."

He fell silent.

"Kage?" I asked, thinking he'd fallen asleep.

"I'm thinking," He snapped. "How about The Fonz?"

"You want to name a child 'Fonz'?"

"No, _The _Fronz. Like from Happy Days."

"…I'm not talking to you anymore." I said, and went to leave the room.

"No, wait, I have a better name," He said, rolling back around to face me. "Jake, or Excalibur,"

I shook my head, trying not to laugh. "Is Excalibur a girl's name?"

"No,"

"That's not how the game works. You have to have a boy and a girl's name."

"What if we get two boys?"

I fell silent, confused.

Then it dawned on me. What if there were _more then one_? It had happened to my parents; they had expected one, and got three instead. What's to stop nature from giving us three as well? Or even four? This thought had never even crossed my mind.

Kage seemed to have already thought about this, and accepted it. "What about Carl?"

"Kage, there might be more then one,"

"Yeah, I know. I like Mark too."

"There could be four," I pointed out.

"Yeah… but that's not likely. I've never come across quadruplet cubs before."

"That's because most of the Saiyan race was _dead_ before you were even born,"

He seemed to consider this. "This is true." He didn't seem to have anything else to say.

I felt the anxiety building. I could handle maybe one; but no way two, or three, and definitely not four.

"Do you think there could be four?" I asked him. He was still rattling off names. Once given a task, it was hard for him to focus on other things.

He stopped naming for a moment. "What day is it?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"What time is it?"

I checked a clock. "It would be 5:00 am in Japan."

He nodded, and closed his eyes for a moment. "So we've been up here approximately 2976 hours, which is 121 days, right?"

I nodded, though I had no idea if that was right.

"That's about four months. If that's right, then you're a month away from delivery. So you'd be way bigger if there was more then two, I would say."

I shook my head. "How can you know that?"

He shrugged again and opened his eyes. "Numbers don't lie."

I sat back against the wall. "So you're a math geek now?"

He laughed. "Something like that. I can do it in my head pretty easy, but I can't read it off of paper. I need it read to me."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I get them mixed up, and I almost always get it wrong. I used to get D's in school because I couldn't figure out how the order was supposed to go."

"You mean you're dyslexic?"

"Is that the technical term?" He yawned, his eyes going half closed. He seemed to be lost in thought. He smiled all of a sudden, and laughed to himself.

"What?" I asked.

"You were freaking out because it kicked," He laughed again. "What did you think was happening?"

I flushed red, "I was thinking that it was too early for it to be born," I admitted.

He laughed louder and rolled onto his back. "Believe me; when it's time, you'll know right away what's happening."

"How would you know? How you had a baby before?"

He shook his head. "No, but from what I understand, it's excruciating. There was a metaphor Bulma used… Something about a keyhole going through a watermelon."

I knew what he was trying to say. I must have looked horrified, for he slapped my thigh playfully.

"But don't worry. That was a human talking. Saiyans have a much higher tolerance for pain."

Tolerance or not, it was going to hurt. I was sure of that.

He shifted, and I stared at him for a while. His face was masculine, squared around the jaw, straight nose, arched eyebrows, and big, but not goofy, ears. A long neck, broad shoulders, a hairless, smooth chest, slender arms and wrists, a flat stomach, two creases where hips met stomach, long, muscular legs. An excellent sized cock.

He was absolutely perfect. Like a model before a camera. He was the kind of flawless that everyone wishes they could be.

"Like what you see?" He asked in a mocking voice.

I looked back up at his face. His eyes were half closed, taunting me.

I blushed and looked away.

I hated how he had no sense of embarrassment. He did whatever he wanted, however he wanted, and he didn't care if he made a fool of himself. He could do it all naked, and be perfectly okay with that. While I blushed when he gave me just one look.

"Jealous?" He asked, jokingly.

"Yes," I said seriously.

This seemed to surprise him. "Really?"

And then I was surprised. "Well, yeah. You're perfect,"

He cocked his head. "Are you on drugs?"

"You're like a fucking model," I spat, letting more envy out then I'd wanted.

He was bewildered now. "Uh… thank you?"

"Don't even act surprised. You know how gorgeous you are."

He thought about this for a moment. "So if I'm gorgeous, then that makes you… stunning? Unbelievably beautiful? Intoxicating? What other words are there to describe you?"

I shook my head. "You want sex or something? Stop messing with me."

"I'm not messing with you." He insisted seriously. "Have you seen your parents? They're beautiful. And your sister? A knock out. You're entire family makes humans turn their heads. When you're all together, people just don't know what to do. You make people question their sexuality, gay or straight. People want you. Especially you."

I frowned deeply, wanting to believe him, but unable to. "Why especially me?"

"Because you have this… innocence about you. A Junoesque, that's a little watered down by your awkwardness."

"You think I'm awkward?"

"In a good way. In a way that is easily forgivable because you're so cute."

"But I'm awkward?"

He nodded. "You seem like you fall down at lot."

"But I don't; not any more than anyone else!"

"I know that, but you just seem a little like a damsel in distress."

"Thanks," I said dryly.

He ruffled my hair with a laugh. "I like feeling like I need to go save you." He beckoned for me to come closer for a kiss.

He tasted terrible, but I didn't mind. He put a hand up my shirt to feel only my stomach. The baby had stopped kicking until then, but it started up again as he touched me.

I ignored the child, and continued to kiss him. He twisted my nipple gently between his fingers, and my breath hitched.

"Take off your clothes." He demanded. "Lay with me."

He moved away from me to make room. I took off my clothes, as commanded, and lay next to him. It was warm in this room. Like lying out on the beach.

"I honestly don't see the point in clothes," He said casually. "They're more of an annoyance if anything. But apparently, it's 'polite' or something,"

I shrugged. "Well, on earth, everyone wears clothes."

"Which is dumb." He rolled onto his side to prop his head up onto his hand. "We should get a house in a nudist colony, and then I won't have to dress just to go to the store."

I rolled my eyes. "I feel bad for you, I really do," I said sarcastically.

"I want to live in a nudist colony, a French one, and I want to have tea with the Pope. Those are the only two things I ask out of Earth."

"Why the Pope?"

"Well, the Pope seems like he needs some loosening up, ya know? Like, we could be best friends, and we could go to the movies, and skateboard and stuff."

"You know the Pope's like eighty years old," I pointed out.

"That didn't stop Evil Kanevil,"

"Yes it did! That's exactly what stopped him!"

"No, a collapsed lung and a failing liver did," He rolled his eyes. "You are clearly not a true fan."

"Anyway," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Why does it have to be a French nudist colony?"

"Well, the French are very liberal. And they're hot, so that's a plus."

"I see."

"What are your hopes and dreams?" He asked, closing his eyes and letting his head drop onto the blanket.

"I'm not sure they can hold up to your outstanding dreams," I said sarcastically.

"Probably not." He agreed.

"But I think I want to finish high school first, and maybe go to college… get a degree in art, or something… Watch the baby grow up… Um…" I paused. "Make amends with my parents, if I can…" I trailed off and then sighed deeply.

"What?" He asked, not opening his eyes.

"The last thing I said to them was that I hated them, and that I didn't care if I ever saw them again."

He did not seem concerned. "The thing about Goku is that he can forgive just about anything. He's probably already forgiven you. He probably just misses you so much he doesn't care how you get back, as long as he can see you again." He paused. "Now, Da… he's a little bit more of an enigma. If he's anything like the one from my time, he can hold a grudge for a _long_ time,"

I sighed. "Don't I know it."

"But just because he might not forgive you, doesn't mean he doesn't love you. He might not say it, or show it, but he does. He loves you, and your brothers, and sisters, and Goku and Bulma… he might even love Piccolo,"

"And Chichi?"

"Oh, God no. He _hates_ Chichi,"

We had a half-hearted laugh.

"But seriously, don't even worry about it." He said with a wave of his hand. "He might kick your ass when you get back, and he might give you the cold shoulder for a while, but he can't be mad at you forever. He claimed he hated Goku, didn't he? And now where look where he is. Time is an amazing thing."

That little pep talk did make me feel better. "So when do you think we'll be getting back?"

He shrugged. "We ran out of gas a long time ago, so it might be a week or two, or it might be a year. I don't know."

"What?!" I cried, sitting bolt upright. The baby started to kick as if irritated as well. "We ran out of gas?!"

He opened one blood-shot eye. "Remember when the ship kind of jerked, and then went silent a few weeks ago?"

"You told me that was the pressure equalizing!"

"Oh, yeah. That was a lie. Anyway, I can't really calculate how fast the ship is going without some solid numbers so we're just going to float for a while, and see what happens."

See what happens. "Kage, on a list of good ideas, that isn't one of them." I ran my hand through my hair. "I can't believe this,"

"Whatever. Why do you need to stress about everything? Just chillax,"

"How old are you? Who the hell says 'chillax' anymore?" I asked, putting my anger aside for a moment.

"Old enough to know that if you obsess over everything, then you waste a whole lot of time. Just go with the flow. You can't control anything, so way try?"

"Yes, you can control things. You can control the ship running out of gas,"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, if you were some kind of magical gas fairy or something,"

I paused for a moment, bewildered. "What?!"

"Did you see any gas stations on the way out here? We're in the middle of no where. Now if you _are _a magical gas fairy, then we'd be in a totally different situation."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I got up onto my feet to leave the room. "Come on,"

"Where are we going?" He practically whined.

"I'm going to take a shower, and you're going to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because you smell like shit, okay?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I liked to smell like shit,"

I give him an innocent look and sniffle. "I guess I could start crying or something, if you don't want to come with me…"

"Alright, I'm coming."


	14. Chapter 14

He finally got over the withdrawal, sort of, and was up on his feet. He could cook now, which made life better for both of us. He started putting on weight, his hair got shinier, and his nails grew in better. It was like a complete 180 transformation. I found it hard to recall how sickly he had been when I first met him.

He was making dinner; some kind of Saiyan themed substance. I wondered if Da knew how to make the stuff he did. I don't recall Da ever cooking; but I would imagine he didn't know much about it.

Kage knew all kinds of stuff about cooking. He wasn't as good as Chichi; mostly because he wasn't afraid to experiment, and ruin a recipe just to see what it would taste like.

When he finished, he put a heaping plate of food before me. "What is it?"

"Well, it's supposed to be _gorgion_, which is charred _flupas_ and mashed _centricas, _but I had to substitute a few things, since both of those are extinct, probably."

"What are they?" I asked, digging in. You couldn't go wrong with beef.

"_Flupas_ are kind of like huge gofers, like as big as a dog, but they have these horns on their heads that if they sting you, you're paralyzed for a few weeks; you can starve if no one finds you. And _centricas_ are like butterflies, but their wings aren't colorful, and they mostly eat rotting flesh."

I paused in my consumption. "So you replaced the 'flupas' with beef… what did you substitute the 'centricas' with?"

He gave me a mischievous look. "I can't tell you that; then you won't eat it."

I felt a dry heave crawling up my throat, but I fought it back. I tried not to think about what I was eating as I shoved it down.

I decided it needed some cheese. I got some from the fridge and put it all over it.

"Ew," He cried when he realized what I was doing.

"What?" I asked, taking another bite. It was much better now.

"Cheese? That's the worse food humans have created."

"You don't like cheese?"

"I hate cheese," He replied, tearing his eyes away from my plate. "It's discussing."

"So you're fine with eating gofers and butterflies, but _cheese_ grosses you out?"

He nodded. "Do you know how they _make_ cheese?"

"I don't want to know," I said covering my ears.

He shrugged and downed a glass of apple juice. And surprisingly, there wasn't even any gin mixed in with it. He leaned his head into the palm of his hand. "Hey, Aizel,"

"Yes?" I asked, pushing my food around my plate.

"What's it like to be a triplet?"

I shrugged. "It's alright."

"No, I mean what's it _like_?"

I understood his question, but it was still hard to answer. "Well… Vienna and I are fraternal," I paused for a moment. "Obviously, since she's a girl. But Lysander and I are identical. We're, essentially, the same person."

"That's pretty cool." He nodded for me to go on.

"Um… back on earth, we played this game called 'Guess Whose Who' and we would dress up the same, and have people guess who was who. They didn't get it right most of the time, and when they did, it was usually a good guess." I paused again. "I think Vienna's a little jealous, actually, since she's not as close as Lysander and I are. And people always ask if we're twins, and we always have to say that we're triplets."

He nodded again.

I swallowed. My chest ached to see them both again. "Lysander's my best friend. He's my opposite, and my other half. We share everything." I laughed suddenly. "At school, whenever I had a physics test, we would switch for the day; so I always had the highest grade in my class. And whenever he had trouble talking to a girl, I would go in and smooth it over for him first." I blinked at a sudden realization. "It's like we're each half of a perfect person."

He was smiling, as if dreaming of switching places with me, just to see what it was like.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked, going back to my quickly cooling dinner.

He shook his head. "Nope. Litter of one."

"And what's that like?" I asked.

We both laughed.

"Do you ever finish each other's sentences?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, all the time. All three of us do that."

"How do you know what the other's going to say?"

I shrugged. "How do you know who you've fallen in love with? You just know."

"Do your parents ever mix you up?"

I thought for a moment. "Not really… Papa has on occasion, like once or twice, but that's just calling us the wrong name. Not mixing us up. And Da never mixes us up."

"How can he tell?"

"I guess we smell different… I don't really know." I made a face as the baby kicked.

He gave me a sympathetic look, and then a disgusted look when he looked down at my food again. "I was looking over a few maps-"

"How did you look at them?" I interrupted. "The ship's out of gas, remember?"

"There is such a thing as paper, Aizel," He reminded me gently, and I felt really stupid. "And they still apply. Anyway, I was looking them over, and I figured out where we are."

"That's great," I said. "Where are we?"

"We should be entering Earth's atmosphere in a few hours."

"What?!" I cried, standing up quickly. "A few hours?"

"Yeah, like two or three. That's a few, right?"

"You told me a couple of days ago it would be at least a week!?"

"I've found that when you're going through withdrawal, your sense of time is pretty warped."

I put my hand to my face. "You're such a space-cadet,"

"But I'm adorable, so that makes up for it, right?"

I hurriedly went about going through all the things I would say when I got back to Earth as I gathered all of my belongings. I must have been talking to myself, for Kage would comment every now and then and give me what he thought was constructive criticism.

"Why don't you just tell them that you ran away to join the circus?" He asked, poking his head out from a ventilation shaft.

"They would never believe that,"

"Why not?" He pulled off his thick welding goggles to give me a puzzled look.

"Because it's a terrible lie," I said a matter-of-factly.

He shrugged and disappeared back to wherever he'd come from.

"What are you even doing?" I asked.

"Well, since we're out of fuel, there's nothing to power the landing gear, so we're in for a rough entrance. I'm trying to rig a few things to make the landing gear spring out anyway, so maybe the whole ship won't get totaled."

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed, following the sound of his crawling into the other room. A moment later, he opened a hatch and his legs dangled out from the ceiling for a moment before he jumped down onto the floor. He had a piece of rope tied around his wrist, and a roll of duct tape in his mouth.

"Do you want me to tell you how it should work, or do you just want to be surprised?"

I sighed deeply. "Are we going to die?"

"Maybe,"

"Then surprise me."

He opened a laptop and pressed a few keys. "Five minutes. Looks like we're landing in the Sahara Desert."

I made a face, and then sat down in the passenger seat. I pulled the seatbelt over my chest, and leaned back bracing myself.

Kage danced around me, threading the rope through several make-shift pulleys that were attached with tape. He returned to the laptop. "Four minutes. Wait, looks like we're going to miss the desert. How well can you swim?"

I rolled my eyes as the ship began to speed up. Kage put the laptop away, and got into his own seat.

"This is the best part." He pressed a few buttons, and then the windshield cover opened so we could get a good view.

The Earth at first blinded me with the sheer brightness of its blue. The feeling of falling came a moment later as the ship began to shake and rattle. The baby began to freak out, as did I, as the ground came into view. What looked like ants from up above, I suddenly realized were mountains, and what seemed like a pond was actually a vast sea.

Kage lifted up his hand and pointed. I couldn't hear what he said, but it was something along the lines of 'I bet we land right there'.

A long time seemed to pass before we actually hit the water. The impact was much rougher then I thought it would be, considering it was just water. The ship jerked violently, and then creaked out a moan as it slowed down. Then it was quiet. Dark, too.

Kage flicked on the overhead light, and then unbuckled his seatbelt. "You alright, love?"

I nodded, though I couldn't talk.

"That was fun. We should do it again soon." He rubbed my stomach. "Alright, Junior?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're not calling him Junior."

He shrugged. "That's kind of cool, huh?" He pointed at the windshield. The water that surrounded us was murky, but you could still see quite a ways in all directions. There were no fish; probably scared off from the impact of the ship; but there was lots of seaweed, and coral, and things that didn't move. They seemed oddly out of place without any fish around them. It was still beautiful, though.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"The ship will float up to the top after a while." He replied. "I'm gonna take a nap. Tell me if your Da shows up so I don't get hit in the face again." He left the room.

I unbuckled my seat belt and continued to stare out the window. We were defiantly floating back up to the top, but very slowly. The water was becoming lighter as more sunlight hit it.

It was just past dawn on this side of the world. I wondered which side, though. We were either in the Indian Ocean, or the Atlantic. I mulled over this a little longer, until something caught my eye outside.

I thought I'd seen the glimmer of a shark or something. I leaned forward, cocking my head, wondering if it would come back again. It did swim past again, and I realized it was some kind of mermaid creature; nothing like a shark. It defiantly had arms.

It swam past again, and this time, it stopped to wave at me.

"Papa!" I cried, pressing my palms against the glass, waving back at him. He grinned broadly and pointed upward. I gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and disappeared from view.

"Kage!" I cried, dashing out of the room. "Kage!"

"What?"

"Kage!"

"What?!" He cried again, opening the door.

"My parents are here!" I didn't know whether to be exhilarated or apprehensive. Either way, I was glad they were here.

"Okay, great!" He cried, jumping up and down with me sarcastically. I guess I must have looked like an overexcited prepubescent girl, but I _was_ excited.

"You have to open the door!" I cried, still too thrilled to control the volume of my voice.

"If I open the door, then the whole ship will fill up with water!" He said in the same tone.

"Can't we just air it out later?"

"No!"

He made me wait another fifteen minutes before he would open the door. I was surprised that my parents waited that long. When he finally did open it, and I crawled up onto the surface, I was hit with the smell of fresh air, and the feeling of moisture on my face; something I hadn't experienced in months.

"Aizel!" Papa cried, and moved to grab me, but then stopped short.

I followed his gaze to my stomach, and I unconsciously turned away a little.

"You're…" He trailed off, and then his eyes returned to my face. "How are you doing?"

I blinked. "Uh… good…"

Kage emerged from the ship and shook his head. He waved. "_Akente,"_ Which is 'hello' in the Common Speech.

Papa waved back. He knew even less about the Common Speech then I did.

"Where's Lysander and Vienna?" I asked, looking around. "Where's Da?"

"They're all asleep," He replied, but that couldn't be true. It was early, yes, but Da was always up before the crack of dawn, and Vienna and Lysander would have come running the second they sensed me coming. And why would Papa come for me without waking any of them? Something wasn't right.

"Don't lie to me, Papa," I said, crossing my arms. "What's going on?"

He scratched at the back of his head. "Well… to be honest… I told Vegeta to stay away…"

"Why?"

He nodded his head at Kage, and I understood. I nodded back for him to continue. "Vienna and Lysander are… in one of their moods."

I got it. They were mad at me. "I have to go talk to them."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Papa said. "Lysander's been a little out of control these past few months,"

I gave him a look for him to elaborate.

"He's… well… you'll just have to see for yourself."


	15. Chapter 15

Papa and I went home after that, and Kage followed behind us more slowly, as if he was reluctant to go there.

We landed outside the house, and it seemed relatively normal; the roof still dipped in from where it fell it last summer and we 'fixed' it, the grass was still overgrown, the willow tree near the creek was still there waving in the wind. For some reason, I had assumed that in my absence, everything would change. I was surprised to see that it hadn't.

"Lysander? Vienna?" Papa called, and there was no answer. I could sense that they were inside, but no one even attempted to come to the front door.

Papa opened the front door.

It was dark inside, like someone had pulled all the shades shut, and turned off all the lights. He flicked on the light for the living room.

The two of them were sitting around the coffee table, lounging it seemed.

"Well this is a nice welcome." I said sarcastically.

"Fuck you," Lysander replied from his position on the couch.

I am taken aback. Of all the people in the world I expected to hear that from, I wouldn't have ever thought it would be from him; at least not seriously.

"Lysadner," Papa said. "Apologize."

"No."

"You have until the count of three."

Silence.

"One."

"You better just say it, Lys," Vienna said from the chair. She had a book on her lap that she appeared to be half-way through.

"Two."

"Fine. Sorry." Lysander said without turning to look at me.

"If you two are going to be brats for the rest of the day, then you can spend it in your rooms." Papa told the two of them.

They both got up at the same time and walked calmly to their rooms. A moment later, they shut the door.

Angrily, I stomped over to our bedroom and pounded on the door with my fist.

"Go away," Lysander said from inside.

"This is my room too! Open the damn door!"

"It's not yours anymore," He replied. "You've been voted off the island."

I paused for a moment to allow that to sink in. "What the hell do you mean I've been 'voted off the island'?"

"I mean that you're not welcome in my room anymore. Go and shack up with your boyfriend or something."

I looked over my shoulder at Kage, who gives me a bewildered look.

Where was Da when you needed him? He could put Lysander back in line no problem. I force the door open after that and go inside.

Lysander was lying on the top bunk, which was my bed, facing the wall. I shut the door behind me.

"What's your problem?" I ask. "We've been away from each other for almost six months, and now you don't want anything to do with me?"

He did not roll over to face me. "You where the one who up and left, not me."

I touched my stomach gingerly and remained silent for a moment. "Lysander, I didn't plan to-"

He rolled over and looked me in the eye for the first time. "You didn't plan to let a complete stranger, that you find out has a drug problem might I add, screw you, and then go off into space with him? You didn't plan for that," He pointed at my stomach. "To happen, either then, I bet?"

I frowned. "No, I didn't."

"And you didn't even consider that maybe you didn't have to run away? That maybe we'd be upset that you left us here?"

I stared at him for a long time, his face a mirror of my own. "I'm sorry, Lys… I was… I didn't think-"

"That's the problem with you!" He exploded, sitting up and pointing at me accusingly. "You _never_ think about anyone but yourself! Me, me, me! I don't know how, with all the brothers and sisters we have, you ended up so selfish! You act like an only child!"

"I wasn't trying to be selfish; I just wanted-"

"What? What did you want? To be with him? That – screw up? He's a murderer, Aizel! He killed our father! And now you've fucked up so bad, you can't ever get rid of him! You're stuck with that piece of shit for the rest of your life, because he's that," He jerked a finger at my stomach again. "_Thing's_ daddy!"

There were tears in my eyes. How could he say all of those things to me? Just this morning, I was talking about how we were the best of friends. How could he betray me like this?

He sighed deeply when he saw I was about to cry. "Just get out of here. I don't want anything to do with you, him, or that thing you're carrying. As far as I'm concerned, we're no longer brothers."

"But we _are_ brothers," I told him, desperate to make him take it back.

"The door is that way." He pointed, lying back down on the bed.

I stared at him for a full minute, unable to fathom this total rejection I was receiving from the last people on earth I'd expect it from.

I finally left the room, feeling like I'd been gutted with a knife.

Vienna is in the living room with Papa and Kage. They're all looking at me with expectant, worried expressions.

"He's pretty mad," Vienna said. "But you know he didn't mean all that stuff. You'll always be our brother," She went over to me and pulled me into a hug. "We're the Son-Brief triplets; now, and forever."

I am sobbing now. "I'm sorry; I'm so sorry,"

"I know." She replied, patting my back. "I heard you the first time. That's all I wanted. I guess Lysander needs a little more then that before he'll forgive you… but he will." She pulled away and looked at me for a moment. Then she put a hand on my stomach. "Do you know what it is yet?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to know. I don't want to ever know."

She shrugged. "You say that now. Come on, we'll go to Mom. She'll know what to do about all this."

I nodded, whipping my tears away.

"You want me to go with you?" Kage asked, his head tilted in the way it always is.

I shook my head again. "No. I want to talk to Vienna."

He nodded, respecting my wishes. "I'll be here if you need me."

Vienna and I took off for Capsule Corp after that.

"What's been going on since I've been gone?" I asked, terrified to hear the answer.

"Well, Da's pregnant too," She replied offhandedly.

"What?!" I cried.

She laughed. "I'm joking! Just trying to lighten the mood a little,"

"Vienna," I growled.

"Okay, okay. Um… Well, Pan, Bra and I had to spend all of Rut Season up the mountains with the she-devil, so I've been a little out of the loop… but I think everything worked out okay, aside from the whole you running away from home thing. When Lysander found out you were gone, though, he flipped out. He wouldn't believe anyone when they told him you were gone, and then, when he finally did accept it, he just… shut down." She paused for a moment to think. "He was like a zombie for months… He wouldn't do anything but mope around. It was like someone had broken him,"

I grit my teeth. Vienna had a way with words, and she had this habit of making situations worse simply by her word choices.

"He wouldn't go to school, he didn't want to go to prom; oh, yeah, you missed prom." She interjected. "He wouldn't eat; did you see how skinny he was?"

I hadn't noticed, but now that she mentioned it, he was wearing a shirt we'd grown out of last year.

"All he would do is sit in his room and cry. After that, he started getting mad all the time. He would just explode over the tiniest things,"

This was not in his nature at all; I was usually the one to fly off the handle, not him.

"And that's how he's been for the last few weeks. I've tried to tell him you'd be back, but every time I try, he shuts down even more, so I just let him alone…"

I swallowed. "And what about Da?"

She fell silent after that for a long time.

"Vi?"

She shrugged, which meant that she was going to be vague about whatever she was about to say. "He's been alright, I guess. He's gone a lot. I haven't seen him since last week."

"Where is he?"

She shrugged again. "He's never in the same place twice. He's been in and out of the house since you left, from what I understand." She makes a face. "He's started drinking,"

I cocked my head. "Drinking?"

She nodded. "Yeah… I don't know if he does it a lot, or just every now and then. He never seems drunk, but I can smell it on him. Papa can smell it too. I think they miss each other."

"They haven't been with each other?"

She shook her head. "I don't know where they go all the time, but they're almost never together. Da won't come into the house."

"Do you think… they're going to get a divorce?"

She gives me a look. "They're not married, you dummy; they can't get a divorce."

I roll my eyes. "You know what I mean; do you think they're going to separate?"

She made a vague motion with her hand. "I don't know. I would say not, since they've been together for fifteen years, but you never know… They were both with other people before they got together, so maybe it's a Saiyan thing; find someone new every couple of years."

I frowned at her deeply. "It doesn't bother you at all that our parents might split up?"

She shrugged again, and I felt the need to punch her in the face. "Aizel, I don't think you're mature enough to understand this, but just hear me out. We live in the family of freaks,"

I was about to protest, but she cut me off.

"We do. There's no denying that. Everything about our family is twisted and backwards; and I think for this reason, I'm very well adjusted. I'm not sure what the deal is with you and Lysander, but you two really have to learn to go with the flow. What will be will be. You can't waste your time worrying about tomorrow; it's going to come either way."

I hated when she talked in metaphors; and when she called me immature.

"If Papa and Da really love each other; I mean, really, really love each other; then they'll stay together. If they don't, then it just wasn't meant to be."

I cocked my head. "What happened to you? You went off to the she-devil, and now all of a sudden you're Confucius or something?"

She laughed in that soft trill of hers. "Yeah, that's it. No, I've just had a lot of time to think these past few months, and I've done a lot of growing up. I've realized that you can't always get what you want; but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need."

"That's a Rolling Stone's song," I said flatly.

She smiles softly. "It still applies."


	16. Chapter 16

We get to mom's house, and she is overjoyed to see me. She takes one look at me and knows just what needs to be done. She takes us down to the basement and does an ultrasound on my belly.

The jelly she squirted onto my stomach was cold, and made me have to pee. She began rolling the ultrasound stick over me, and stopped right below my bellybutton.

"There's the head," She said excitedly. "It's in the right position to come out."

I lean up to see. My heart nearly skips a beat. There, on the screen, was a black and white image of a tiny person curled up into a ball. Its hand flexes, and it yawns, rubbing at its face.

"Oh that's so cute!" Vienna gushes.

Bulma takes my hand and presses it against my stomach. "There's the head right there." She says, and gently moves my fingers back and forth. I could feel it. I could feel it inside me.

I look from my hand to the screen. "There's only one?"

"Only one." Bulma assures me.

This was a relief.

She moves the ultrasound stick upwards. "There's the little tail," She says, showing me the appendage rapped around its legs. "And…" She moves over to the side. "Do you want to know the sex?"

"Yes!" Vienna cries.

"No," I insist, and they both look at me. "I… I want to be surprised."

Bulma nods and pulls away, the image fading. "It looks healthy. The birth should be no problem."

I nod and sit up, my hands on my belly, right where the head was. It was strange to think that its head was less than an inch below my fingertips. "How much longer?"

"Oh, any day now," She says with a smile. "It should be ready to come in less than a week."

Vienna looked over joyed, but I was terrified. Less than a week? That was all I had?

We flew home silently. I wanted to talk to Da. He would at least be able to give me some information about what to expect.

When we got back, Kage came out to greet me.

"All systems are go?" He asks.

I nod and press his hand just below my belly button as Papa exists the house as well. "You feel that?" He nods. "That's the head."

He cracks a smile and watches as the baby gives a stretch, little feet and hands clearly visible under my skin.

Papa is the next to feel. "Hey little guy," He says. "Almost ready?"

I nod. "Any day now."

Kage whistles. "We don't even have diapers."

I laugh. Diapers. There was a lot of stuff we didn't have.

"Well, you'll have to get diapers," Papa agrees, "But there's still a bunch of stuff in the attic from when you three were babies. I saved it."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Da didn't make you get rid of it?"

Papa grins. "He doesn't know it's there. Come on, we'll take a look."

The four of us go up into the dusty attic and take a look at all the stuff up there. There were the three cribs, tons of baby clothes, toys; pretty much anything we could ever need. Kage and Papa started bringing stuff down and Vienna and I started dusting it off.

"So I have a boy pile, and a girl pile," Vienna says. "You better hope it's a boy; we have a _ton_ of boy stuff."

The pile was three times as big for boy clothes as girl clothes. They were even prepped already with little holes in the back for tails. This couldn't have worked out better.

Kage brought down the last box and set it down. "We ought to go shopping don't you think, love?"

I nod. "For some essential stuff I guess. But I don't have any money…"

He gives me a sympathetic look. He didn't either.

"Call mom, she'll hook you up." Vienna says offhandedly, throwing the baby clothes into a hamper to wash before the baby could wear it.

I give her a call. "Hey, mom, it's Aizel,"

"Yes, sweetie, what's up?" She asks.

"Well, we're figuring out some stuff we're going to need, and we think we want to go buy some diapers, but-"

She cuts me off. "Meet me at the mall in ten minutes. I'll take care of everything."

Kage and I meet her there as she said, and Vienna is right about her hooking us up. She has us each push a cart, and fills them all as high as she can with diapers, baby powder, formula, food, and an array of other things I wouldn't have even thought of. When we went to check out, the bill was over a thousand dollars.

"Mom, this is _way_ too much stuff; you didn't need to-"

"Of course I did, sweet heart, who else was going to get all this stuff? You just take it and you can thank me later." She winks, and returns to her car. "You two got that all, or do you need some help?"

We shake our heads, and she drives off in her car.

Kage and I tote the many bags back home and set them down in the living room.

"Um… where are we supposed to live?" Papa asks us when the bags just kept coming in.

"It's not that much, is it?" I ask with a nervous laugh. Oh, yes. It was a lot.

"Well we can store a lot of it upstairs," Vienna suggests. "And maybe the baby will be a little poop machine so they'll go through these diapers really fast."

"If it's anything like the three of you, it _will_ be a little poop machine." Papa says with a roll of his eyes and begins moving stuff upstairs.

We get everything put away just in time, before Da finally shows up at the front door.

It had begun to rain, and so he was soaked. He steps in, his boots squishing against the wood floor.

"What are you doing here?" Papa asks.

Da gives him a scornful look. "I _live_ here, Kakorot." He snaps. "I have every right to be here."

He glances around the room, and his eyes fall onto my swollen belly. His expression darkens. Then he looks over at Kage, who stays his ground.

"_You_," Da hisses. "_What_ have you done to my son?"

Kage does not answer, and Da charges him, catching him by the throat. He makes a sickening sucking sound, and begins to choke.

"Vegeta," Papa says warningly. "Let him go!"

Da squeezes harder in response. "Do you understand what you've done, boy?" He demands of him. "You have ruined everything!"

Kage is turning purple. His eyes are beginning to roll to the back of his head.

"Vegeta, stop!" Papa says, rushing over to him, and yanking him away.

Kage crashes to the floor, gasping.

Papa grabs Da into a headlock and Da thrashes wildly around, terrifyingly.

"Do you understand what you've done to our family, you selfish piece of shit? I am going to make sure you never lay a hand on him for as long as you live! Which won't be long; you can count on that, boy!" He continues to scream.

Everything was getting so out of control. It gets worse when Da wretches himself free and pounces onto Kage once more. He begins to punch him over and over again in the face, his fist coming back bloodier every time. Kage struggles to get him off, but he can't seem to fight back such raw Saiyan rage.

Vienna starts to scream, and I squeeze my eyes shut, pinned with fear. Papa tries desperately to pull him off; to reason with him.

"Stop it!" I scream, and all of a sudden I feel my gut wrench, and then a flow of water down my legs, like I had peed myself. I look down, and my pants are soaked.

All eyes turns to me and the room goes still. I put my hands to my belly and stare back. In a hollow voice, I say, "My water just broke…"


	17. Chapter 17

There was a moment where no one knew do anything, and then, like a drill sergeant, Da started barking orders.

"Get this place cleaned up," He shouts to Vienna. "Get all this shit out of the way and lay down some towels or blankets or something!"

She nods and begins clearing the living room.

"Kakorot, go and retrieve the woman." He orders Da.

Papa nods, and instant transmissions away.

"You," Da says with venom to Kage, "Stay out of my way."

He climbs out from on top of him and stalks over to me, leaving Kage to lay on the flood, dazed.

Da leads me over to the pile of towels and has me sit down.

"Aren't I supposed to feel something?" I ask as Papa returns with mom in tow.

"Sometimes the water breaks before the contractions start, sometimes after." Mom replies, and kneels down beside me on the floor. She has a stethoscope that she uses to listen to my stomach.

As she does this, my stomach suddenly seizes up into a painful cramp, becoming rock hard. I groan and then begin to scream from the pain.

"That's the first contraction," Mom says to me calmly. She feels my stomach. "The head's still in position, so that's a good sign. Do you want something for the pain?"

I can't answer until the contraction passes. "Yes, God, yes," I say.

"Wait, won't that hurt the baby?" Kage asks.

Mom nods reluctantly. "Well, usually not, but it can cause some complications during the birth."

"What kind of complications?" Kage insists.

"Well because the drugs will numb him up, he won't feel when the contractions hit so he won't always know when to push… This is potentially dangerous for the baby, but usually it's perfectly fine."

He wets his lips. "Can we talk about this for a minute?"

"Kage, I am in so much paaaain…" I groan out, feeling the beginnings of another contraction.

He comes over to crouch next to me. "I know, love, but don't you think it would be better not to have the drugs?"

"_How_ could that be better?" I demand.

"I just think it would better if our baby didn't come into the world all drugged up…" He trails off.

I can see that he feels very strongly about this. Even though I am in immense pain, I nod in agreement. "Fine, no drugs."

"Aizel-" Mom begins, trying to talk me out of it.

"I already said no; don't try to change my mind." I say, and then cry out when another contraction hits me.

"This is so exciting!" Vienna says from over near the couch. "I'm going to be an auntie!"

I give her a dirty look.

"Ok, I'm leaving," She says disappointedly. "I'm going to go find Lysander. He should be here too." She leaves right after that.

After the contraction passes, I feel like I need to stand up.

"Why don't you stay on the floor, love," Kage says.

"Why don't you shut the hell up!" I snap, not a question. I was very irritable, and he was just pissing me off more. I was in pain, and I didn't want to be questioned or told what to do.

With my muscles moving, the pain eased just a little bit. My back was killing me. I reached back and touched it. It was as hard as a rock.

"All we can do now is wait." Mom says, taking a seat on the couch.

"Hmph." Da says.

Papa grabs his arm. "Come on, Vegeta, I don't think we're needed here."

Da whirls around and gives him a look as if to say 'What?'.

"I know you want to be here, but we're just in the way. Come on, we have some things we need to talk about." Papa leads him outside, much to his irritation.

I give Papa a look of gratitude before the two of them disappear outside.

I could now focus on getting this child out of me!

I paced for several minutes before another contraction nearly brings me to my knees. Kage rushes to my side, and has me sit on his lap on the couch while he massages my back. It didn't help much, but I appreciated the gesture. It did loosen my back just a little bit.

"Aizel, honey, can you take off your pants? I want to take a look at what's going on." Mom says.

I stand up and with Kage's help, ease out of my pants. My shirt is just long enough to barley cover me when I am standing. Mom kneels down between my legs and takes a look. I blush furiously. She had never even changed my diapers when I was little. This was more intimate of a position than I was used to being in with her.

"Nothing yet," She says, and pulls away. "It's going to be a while, I think." She settles back onto the couch to continue waiting.

I groan and pace some more. Kage followed me around, getting me whatever I wanted. We went to lie on the bottom bunk in my room, which I guess was no longer mine anymore.

He got in first, and I lay on my side as the little spoon in front of him. Brining my legs up to bend slightly helped ease some of my discomfort.

He began to massage my aching muscles, trying to work the knots out of my back and shoulders.

I cringe as my body seizes up again into tight coils. I groan in agony, whishing this were all already over.

He pulls my shirt off over my head so I am completely naked, and plants kisses on my neck and bare shoulders while he rubs my aching belly. "Someday, we'll look back on this as the best day of our lives." He whispers to me.

Yeah right. I wanted to forger this day, to never have to think about it again. The pain was traveling up and down my legs, tightening them like a vice. He started to rub them, but the pain wouldn't end.

When this contraction finally passed, I was left exhausted. I didn't know how many more of those I could take. I try to take a little nap, but I couldn't. I couldn't find a comfortable position. Every half hour or so, a contraction would hit me and I would feel like I was going to die.

"It's alright, love," He coos into my ear. "You're doing wonderfully."

I didn't feel like I was doing wonderfully. We laid there for hours and hours. The sun went down. I had no idea what time it was, but it was growing late.

The contractions came harder and closer together.

Mom eventually knocks on the door to the bedroom. "I think it's time to push sweetie," She tells me, not commenting on the fact that I was now naked. I didn't care. I was in too much agony to care.

I sit up and allow them to lead me into the other room. I sit down and she instructs me to push when the next contraction hits. Kage sits behind me, and I lean against him. He wraps an arm around my chest to support me.

"Ok," She says, feeling across my belly. "The little guy feels like he may have turned over."

"It's a boy?" Kage asks, excited.

Bulma shrugs. "I don't know. I was just talking figuratively. But he rolled over, so I think he's almost ready to come out."

My belly clenches into another contraction and I scream.

"Alright, Aizel, no more screaming. Concentrate your energy into pushing." She tells me, getting into the position to catch.

The first few pushes are ok, but then it grows more and more difficult as my energy begins to wane. "I'm too tired," I announce. "I can't do this!"

Kage kisses my neck and shoulder, "Of course you can. You're doing beautifully, love, just keep going."

I push again, but the pain is too much. "I can't! I need something to dull the pain! I can't do this!" I'd hit a wall, and there was no way this kid was coming out if they didn't give me something, _anything_ to make the pain _tolerable_.

"It's too late for that now, Aizel," She tells me. "The head is beginning to crown. Just a few more pushes should do it."

I groan with agony and push in spite of myself. I knew I couldn't do it, but I was doing it anyways. I push several more times half-heartedly until the head finally made its way out.

"Stop!" Mom cries all of a sudden. "Stop pushing, Aizel, stop!"

I freeze, panicked. "What? What's wrong?"

"The cord's wrapped around his neck," She tells me, "If you push you'll strangle him. Just stop for a minute." She grabs a pair of gloves and shoves them onto her hands.

I feel her cool hands invade me, and I look down to see what's going on.

"I'm going to push him back in," She tells me.

"What?" I cry. All the hard work I'd put into getting him out, and now she wanted to shove him back in?

She nods. "I'm going to push him in, unwrap the cord, and then hopefully that will fix it, ok?"

"Noooo…" I groan.

Kage turns my head towards him. "Aizel, I know you're very tired, and you've done such a good job so far, but it's better for the baby if he goes back in so Bulma can fix him. This is just a little set back, but it will be ok, alright?"

Tears were rolling down my face. I know he is right, but I was so tired, I just didn't want to do this anymore. I wanted him out, right now. I didn't want to have to start all over.

Eventually, I nod my head and Bulma begins pressing him back into me. This feeling is almost worse than pushing out. I didn't like the feeling at all, but she ended up not having to push him all the way back in. The cord got enough slack to where she could untie it from around his neck and free him.

"Alright, it's done," She says. "You can push now."

I was determined to get this kid out now. I muster all the strength I can, and start pushing again. This time he slides out a little easier; the cord must have been fighting me the whole time.

His head gets out, and then I feel him twist so his shoulders could get out. It is excruciating getting those shoulders out. He was going to be a linebacker or something, I swear.

Once the shoulders are out, mom says to me, "Alright, honey, one more push and we should be done."

I had been gripping Kage's hand hard while I pushed, and this time I clutched it so hard I felt a few bones snap. He doesn't say anything, or even grimace. He does not take his eyes away from between my legs as I push out the rest of the baby.

Once I feel it gone, I sit up straight to see it.

Mom has the baby in her arms, and she quickly places it onto my chest, where I grab it with surprise.

"Congratulations," She says, "It's a girl."

"A girl…" I coo, suddenly becoming euphoric. I can't stop smiling.

Kage cuts the cord under mom's instructions, and then the baby starts to wail as it takes it's very first breath of life.

This breaks my heart and I start to sob. "A girl…" I say again. "We have a girl…"

Kage ruffles my hair and kisses me.

I pull her away from me a little bit and look at her little face. Her eyes aren't open, and her little mouth is wide with a scream. "She's so beautiful…" I sob, and clean off some of the mucus on her face. Her little tail uncoils from her body and falls limp between her scrunched up legs.

I hold her to my chest and wrap a towel around her to clean off some of the blood and to keep her warm. She continued to scream until she became closer to me, then she settled down. She seemed to know that I was her bearer.

I look up and Kage is watching us intently, his face pulled into a grin. "I did it," I tell him.

He nods. "I knew you would."

I shake my head in wonderment. "I didn't think I could…"

He reaches out and runs the back of his finger against her cheek.

"Oh!" I realize, "Do you want to hold her?"

He nods and I pass her to him. I feel strangely empty to have her out of my arm, but it makes me smile when I see him cuddle her to his chest. She whines, not liking being separated from me.

He counts her fingers and toes.

"Does she have all ten?" I ask, suddenly worried, and angry with myself for not counting them earlier.

"She's perfect." He says and kisses her little cheek.


	18. Chapter 18

A moment later, the door opens slowly.

"Can we come in?" Vienna asks, poking her head into the room.

"I'm naked," I warn.

"Well put some clothes on! We want to see the baby!" She says.

Kage goes to my room and grabs me some clothes that I pull on after I get cleaned up a bit. I lay down on the couch, ready to fall asleep.

After that, Vienna and my parents come back into the room.

"Baby!" Vienna cries excitedly. "What is it?"

"It's a girl," Kage answers, rocking her in his arms. "Want to hold her?" He asks.

Vienna nods, and carefully takes her into her arms. "She's _so_ tiny,"

After her, it was Papa's turn to hold her. "Hey there, welcome to the family…" He coos to her and kisses her face. She makes a whining sound, and starts to cry.

I sit up, my instinct telling me I should do something.

Da beckons for Papa to hand her over. He holds her against his chest and purrs to her, and she quiets instantly. I remember he used to do that to make us stop crying when we were little. The sound never failed to make me very relaxed and sleepy.

Mom stands up from the floor and strips off her gloves. "Alrighty, Aizel, you've got yourself a baby now. I bet there are plenty of people to help you out, but if you have any questions, let me know ok?"

I nod. "You're leaving?"

She nods back. "Yeah, I think you guys need some bonding time. And besides, I have to tell everyone about the baby!" She says with a giggle.

I shake my head, amused. "Alright. Thank you so much, mom, I couldn't have done it without you."

She gives me a thumbs up. "Sure thing, sweetheart. Good luuuuck…" She sings the last word as Papa takes a moment to take her back home.

"Aizel." Da says flatly. "We need to have a talk; _without_ Kakorot."

I nod reluctantly.

Papa returns, not hearing this part of the conversation.

"Wow, now I have two grandbabies!" He says, looking pleased with himself. I forget sometimes that Pan was his granddaughter too. She was just so close to my age, she was more like a cousin than a niece. But I guess Gohan _was_ in his mid-thirties as it was.

I sense Lysander coming.

"Lysander's coming back," Vienna announces the obvious. "I told him the baby was coming, but I didn't think he would come back." She shrugs.

"Come on, Vienna," Papa says, leading her into the other room. "Leave your brothers alone for a little while." Da passes the baby back to me, and follows Papa into their bedroom. Vienna goes into her own room, but leaves the door open a crack to listen in.

I pass the baby to Kage, wary of what might happen when Lysander showed up.

The front door opens a few minutes later, and Lysander steps in from outside. It was still raining pretty hard, and he was soaked from head to toe.

Our identical eyes meet for a moment, and he looks at the baby in Kage's arms.

Then, without warning, he blunders towards me, startling me, and throws his arms around my neck. He begins to sob into my chest unexpectedly.

"I am so sorry," He says over and over. "I am so sorry; I take back everything I said about you not being my brother, and all of it, I take it all back, please forgive me!" He begs.

I throw my arms around him and we hug it out. I rub his back as he finishes off his fit of sobs. "I forgive you, I forgive you," I say each time he apologizes.

He pulls away and presses his forehead to mine and we look into each other's eyes. "We'll always be brothers. Nothing can change that."

I nod and grin up at him. "Nothing." I agree.

He pulls away and looks to Kage. "I… I'm sorry about what I said before."

Kage shrugs. "It's alright, man, I know you didn't mean it."

Lysander nods in agreement. "I was just being an asshole. I should have just been happy you were home."

"I shouldn't have left without saying anything to you." I say. "I'm sincerely sorry about that."

He punches my arm playfully, wiping away the rest of his tears. "No sweat, brother. I'm over it now." He looks back to the baby.

"You want to hold her?" I ask.

He nods and Kage passes her to him. He looks at her a moment. "She looks like you," He tells Kage. He comes to sit in front of the couch, his back against it so that I could look over his shoulder. "See? She has his ears."

I nod in agreement.

Then she suddenly yawns, and we all coo at how cute it is. Then she opens her eyes, and I can't help but gasp.

They are a bright crimson red; just like Kage's.


	19. Chapter 19

I am awakened by the feeling of being pulled forwards. I gasp, and stumble as I am pulled out of my bed by a rough, firm hand.

Da shoves me through the living room where Kage and the baby still slept, and outside.

"Where are we going?" I ask, trying to keep up, but his strides are too fast.

"Out." He says without looking at me. "We need to talk."

"But Da, the baby-"

"You're crack-head mate will take care of it." He says flatly, and leads me outside.

I frown, but follow him anyways. "He's not a crack head," I say. "You smoke crack, and snort cocaine. He snorts, not smokes."

He whirls around and I jump back. "You think this is funny?" He demands of me. "You think this is a joke?"

I shake my head. "I didn't mean it like-"

"You didn't mean it," He spits. "Just like you didn't mean for any of this to happen?"

I fall silent. It was better just to let him yell for a while.

"You, boy," He says, grabbing the collar of my shirt. "Are lucky I don't kill you right now."

This isn't the first time he'd threatened to kill me, but it is the first time I think he actually meant it.

"Do you understand what danger you put yourself into?" He demands.

I give him a blank look.

"Obviously not!" He cries. "You could have died, you know! You could have died in that living room yesterday, giving birth at your age!"

"But I didn't die," I point out boldly, not meaning to make him angrier, but that's exactly what I did.

"But you could have!" He screams. "You could be dead right now, and no Dragon could bring you back! Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

I stare up at him, terrified. What was I supposed to say? Anything I said would make him fly off the handle. It was better to say nothing, and just look dumb.

He pushes me down, and I land on the ground hard. He towers over me, looking very intimidating. "During their first rut season, many young Saiyans become with child, and die during birth, and usually the child dies as well. It happens all too often because they are young, and don't know what they're doing. You running off into space, where there is _no_ medical care, _no_ doctors, _and _no one to watch over you? It was easily the most selfish thing I've ever seen." He seethes, his voice low it was almost a whisper.

Something in me snaps, and I jump to my feet. "_You _where the one that told me to go!" I shout, getting up in his face. "_You_ told me to go ahead up into space with my 'addict of a fuck buddy' and that you didn't care! I was doing _just what you said_!"

His face goes a little slack as he glares at me.

I was taller than him now, I noticed. I could just see over his head, if his hair wasn't in the way. I felt good yelling back at him, but now that it was silent, I started to feel uncomfortable.

I take a step back, and cross my arms, trying to look confident.

He gives me a little scoff. "You've grown some balls since you've been in space, huh?" He says with a roll of his eyes. "Not even Trunks has gotten up in my face like that."

"I'm not scared of you." I say darkly, glaring.

He nods, as if to say yes, obviously. He steps towards me, and I resist the urge to step back. He clasps a hand to my shoulder. "You're a good kid," He says, unexpectedly. "I… apologize. For before."

I give him a suspicious look. Now came the punch to the face, right? But it never came. He was apologizing? To _me_? Something was wrong here.

He looks away from me for a moment and looks up at the sky. "You remind me so much of myself, it's scary sometimes."

My eyebrows rise in confusion. "Really." I say flatly, not really believing him.

He nods. "Every time I look at you, I see a version of me… but a better me." He looks back at me, his face completely sincere. "You… fascinate me."

I cock my head, squinting. What was going on? Were we… having a father-son moment? Because I yelled at him?

He crosses his arms. "You're all the things that I… can't be."

He was being too vague. I didn't understand what he meant. He beckons for me to follow him, and he takes me into the woods were we sit on some fallen oak trees.

He motions for me to sit next to him, and I do, but warily. I hadn't been hit yet, but there was still a chance it could happen.

"I had a cub when I was your age." He tells me flatly.

I stare at him in shocked disbelief. "You did." Not really a question.

He nods. "A girl, too."

"What… what happened to her?" I ask, fearing the answer.

He sighs. "I…" He trials off for a moment, trying to decide where to start. "I didn't tell anyone… that I was with child… I was afraid that… that they would make me give it away. So I hid it from everyone on Freeza's ship."

"Who's baby was she?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "I have no idea. That's not the point of this story. I went into pre-term labor, and had to be rushed to the sick-bay. I started bleeding out, and I nearly died. They cut me, here," He shows me a long scar across his abdomen to one side. It was vertical, not like the C-section scars I had seen on Earth woman. "In order to get her out. She died in my arms less than an hour later."

I give him a sad look. "Da…"

"But if I'd just said something," He continues on, not pauses to hear what I had to say. "If I had only told someone, she might have lived." He looks at me suddenly. "That's why I was so angry when you left; I knew there was a possibility you could become with child, but I didn't want you to do it on your own. You put your life and her life in danger."

"But I wasn't on my own, Kage was there."

He scoffs and rolls his eyes, but doesn't comment on this.

I put an arm around his shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

He shrugs. "It's hard sometimes, to get the words out when they need to be said."

We were a lot alike. We spent so much time living inside our own heads; it was difficult to communicate to other people what we were thinking. At least I had Lysander who pretty much understood me; but who did Da have? I don't think Papa understood either one of us.

"But she's alive," I say to reassure him. "And everything worked out fine. Everything's going to be alright."

He nods in somewhat agreement and we begin walking back to the house. "What are you going to do about your disaster of a mate?"

I understand he means this as a half-hearted joke; he just isn't so good on the delivery. "Well, we agreed he would go to rehab," I tell him.

"You think that's going to work?"

I shrug. "I don't know. We'll see."

"Addicts always go back to their addictions. If they can't have one thing, they'll find something else to get addicted to."

I nod. I know he is right. When I took away the cocaine, he went running straight to alcohol. Now that the alcohol was gone, he didn't have anywhere to channel his addictive personality.

"Do you think Kage's addiction will run its course? That he'll get better?"

He shrugs. "Hell if I know. It depends on how much he wants it."

I nod and open the door to the house. The baby is crying, and Kage is desperately trying to get her to be quiet.

He had this look of frustration on his face. "I have never needed a drink so badly in my life." He tells me.

I glance over at Da with dismay; who shrugs and goes to his and Papa's bedroom.


	20. Chapter 20

Bulma found this rehab facility near her house, and told me about it. Kage, Papa, the baby and I all went to check it out.

Papa whistles when we get there. "This place is huge!"

It looked pretty nice; it was clean, there were areas for in patients and out patients, and there were lots of doctors everywhere.

"Hello," The receptionist says brightly. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" She sees the baby and is momentarily distracted. "Why hello! Aren't you precious?"

"Hi," I say, gaining her attention. "My name's Aizel, and this is my father, and my… friend… Kage. He's here to get help with a drug problem." I explain, not wanting to go into detail about our relationship.

She takes a look at Kage, and nods. She begins typing on the computer. "Alright, what is the dependent substance?"

"Cocaine, but more recently mostly alcohol." I answer.

"I've been clean for almost two weeks though." Kage says, as if this is impressive.

"Hm." The receptionist replies. She keeps talking to me. She sure knew how to handle an addict. "Okay I'm going to ask the two of you to come with me so we can conduct an interview."

I pass the baby to Papa, and he takes her to the waiting room to give her a bottle.

She takes Kage and I into the other room. "Alright, I need to ask some personal questions of the two of you." She takes out a stack of papers from inside the desk, and starts rattling them off. They are all yes or no questions. She gets to one in particular that I hesitate to answer.

"Has he ever become physically abusive when intoxicated?"

I bite my lower lip, and he shifts uncomfortable.

"Yes…" I say slowly. "But only once. Never again after that."

She jots something down. "Does it appear as though he should not be left alone with children, or minors?"

I contemplate this. "Um, I'm not sure."

He kicks my chair lightly in the leg. He obviously didn't like where this interview was going. "Can I answer some questions?" He asks.

"Not right now." She says, and finished off her questions. "Alright. That should be it. Now, I need you both to read these papers, and then sign here and here."

I read the paper to Kage aloud, and he listens silently.

It basically said he had to complete 3 months of inpatient detox, and then another two months of outpatient checkups twice a week.

"Three months?" He asks. "But I'm fine now! I don't need to be here for 3 months!"

The receptionist gives him a patient look. "Three months is about how long it takes for most drugs to work their way out of your system. It's to be sure that you are in complete control of yourself before you can move forwards in your life. I'm going to have a doctor take a look at you and take some blood work, and then we can check you in today."

"Today!" He cries, standing up. "I have to go _now_?"

I grab onto his arm. "Kage, this is what we agreed remember? When we got back, you had to go to rehab,"

"But I have a baby!" He cries. "I can't be in here for 3 months!"

"Please calm down, sir," The receptionist says. "You're making this more difficult than it needs to be. You may see your baby after your first week here at the hospital."

"Let me talk to him, ok?" I say to her, and go to his side. "Kage, listen," I say to him in my most soothing voice in the Common Speech. "This is going to be a good thing for us; trust me."

He shakes his head. "I can't just leave you and the baby for 3 months!"

"Three months will be over before you know it," I assure him. "We'll be fine. This is going to help everyone if you can get clean."

"But I am clean! I swear to you!"

I nod. "You've swore that before,"

"But this time I really mean it!" He begs. "I don't want to stay here, I'm going to go insane…."

I press my head against his forehead. I was getting so tall! Before I hardly came up to his shoulder. "You're going to be fine. I'll come and visit you every day, and I'll bring the baby."

He makes a frustrated sound at the back of his throat, and then sighs deeply. "Fine. I'll do it."

We sign the papers, and he gets checked in.

I return to the waiting room without him, feeling extremely guilty.

"You did the right thing, son," Papa tells me, handing me my baby. "This is going to be good for him."

I nod, but don't say anything.

"You have to do what was best for the baby." He assures me, and I nod again. And this _was_ what was best for her. Wasn't it?

I thought about this on our way back home. Giving Kage some space was what was best. He needed to grow up a little bit before he could be a good father, I think. You can't be a good parent when half your attention is on your kid, and the other half is thinking about when your next hit was going to be.

I got kind of depressed after that. I took care of the baby, and learned a bunch of stuff and everything, but I missed Kage. I couldn't visit him at all the first week. It was a strict no friends or family rule. They said it was for the adjustment period, when the patient was the most hostile, so they get used to the environment.

"Hey Ai," Vienna says to me one day. "Are you going to go back to school?"

I take a moment to think about it. "I'm not sure…"

"Well, school starts in two weeks, so you better make a decision soon." She says, and leaves the room.

Once I am able to see Kage, I ask him what he thinks.

They were keeping him in a room that was supposed to look like a bedroom, but the windows had bars over them, and the door couldn't be opened from the inside without a special key. He could have easily gotten out if he wanted to though.

"Hey," I say once I see him, shifting the baby in my arms.

"Hello, love," He says and pulls me into a hungry kiss. "I've missed you so much…" He bends and kisses the baby on the head. "Still no name?" He asks.

I shake my head. "I can't think of one."

"Well, I was thinking the other day," He begins. "That we should name her after a god, since mine is the God of Death and yours is the God of War."

I nod. "That's a good idea. But there aren't any goddesses, are there?"

He shakes his head. "Not really… just a few, but they don't have really great names."

I nod, figuring as much.

We lay down on the bed with the baby. She falls asleep between us as we brainstorm.

His props up his head with his elbow as he tells me many different stories about the Saiyan gods. One is particular catches my attention. "The God of War had a son; Dufflin, the God of Fire. It is said that the mountains of Vegeta used to be lush with trees, and crops that could feed the whole planet. But one day, to spite his father, Dufflin set all the mountains ablaze. The fire was so massive, the Saiyans could not extinguish them, and so began to starve and die off from all the ash that was pouring off the mountains. Aizel become enraged, and commanded his army to capture his son and bring him before him. His son offered to extinguish the flames, only if Aizel agreed that whenever there was a war, there too would be fire in his honor. The two agreed, and Dufflin extinguished the mountains, but the first left them barren and full of molten rock."

"Volcanoes," I conclude, and he nods.

"From then on, whenever the Saiyans would win a victory during a war, they would set the area ablaze to honor Dufflin, so that they would not feel his wrath in the form of the eruption of the volcanoes."

I frown. "I like that story, but Dufflin is not really a name you give to a little girl…"

He nods in agreement. "I knew a few Saiyan girls with men's names because they were named after the gods."

"Yeah… but I think it should be a least a little feminine."

"We could call her Duffy," He suggests.

My face lights up. "Duffy! That's perfect!"

He cocks an eyebrow. "You like it?"

I nod. "It's perfect," I repeat.

He shrugs. "If you like it, then I like it."

I snuggle my face against my little Duffy. It was the perfect name, for the perfect baby.

I look up at him. "Oh, before I forget… School starts next week."

He cocks his head.

"Do you… think I should go?"

"Absolutely." He says without hesitation.

"Really?" I sit up a little bit. "You really think I should go?"

He nods. "I want you to. You have three years left, right?"

"Yes."

"Then yes. Go. Finish school. And after that, I want you to go to college."

I let my mouth fall open. "College! We can't afford college,"

"You let me worry about that. We can start saving now. But all I want you to worry about is finishing high school. Can you do that for me?"

I nod. "Yes, but whose going to take care of the baby?"

He shakes his head. "We'll figure something out. You only have this one opportunity to finish school Aizel, I don't want you to throw it away."

I nod. He wanted me to be smarter than he was; to be able to read and write more than my name. To make something more of myself. "I hate school though…"

He shakes his head. "You're going. That's final."

"You can't tell me what to do!" I say.

"I can, and I will." He says, setting his jaw. I knew he was right, but he didn't have to be so bossy!

"Alright, I'll go to school." I say, defeated.

"Damn right you will." He says, and then grins and ruffles my hair.

Sorry it took a while to get this up, I have been moving in this week so my stuff was all in boxes lol.

You know, R&R and such. I have the next five chapters written, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.


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